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^:2^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.^-^ <^ 



Xafee lEnglisb Classics^ 

For College Entrance, 1899. 

Under the editorial supervision of LINDSAY TODD DAMON, A.B., 
Instructor in English in The University of Chicago. 



Limp Cloth. 
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^be Xafte lenaHsb Classics 



EDITED BY 



LINDSAY TODD DAMON, A.B. 
Instructor in English in The University of Chicago 



Ube Xalie Englisb Classics 



PALAMOJSr ANT) ARCITE 

OK THE KXIGHT'S TALE 
FROM CHAUCER 



JOH]^ DEYDEl!f 



EDITED FOR SCHOOL USE 
BY 



MAY ESTELLE COOK, A.B. 

DrSTBUCTOB IK KXQLISH. SOUTH SIDS ACAPKltT. CHICAGO 



CHICAGO 

SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 

1898 



SECOND COPY, 



^^^ 



■>^ 






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4>- 






52098 



Copyright 1898, 
By SCOTT, FOKESMAN AND COMPANY 




gCD '<0 1}. , 



C^'er of I 






•^'■'fSHtCft.fo. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface - - - ^ ... - - 7 
Introduction 

Chaucer 9 

Dryden . . . .... - 16 

The Story of Palamon and Arcite - - 23 

Dryden's Style 23 

Dryden's Estimate of Chaucer - - - 32 

Suggestions to Teachers ----- 33 

Bibliography ...-.-. 38 

Text ....---.. 39 

Notes - - - 145 

Glossary - - - - - - - - 166 

Index 172 



PREFACE 

This edition of Palamon and Arcite aims to give 
the pupil only such information and stimulus as 
will enable him to do his best work. The notes 
have been prepared in the belief that stimulus to 
literary appreciation is quite as necessary to the 
young student as the understanding of facts, and 
have therefore been made suggestive as well as 
critical. The unique feature of the edition, that 
of footnotes from Chaucer's text, has been intro- 
duced in the hope that comparative study will not 
only add zest to the pupil's work, but will give 
him a basis for forming opinions of his own, and 
will consequently foster keenness of insight and 
power of enjoyment. 

The text of Dry den used is that of W. D. 
Christie (Macmillan, 1893), the Chaucer text, that 
of Morris and Skeat's Prologue and Enightes Tale 
in the Clarendon Press Series. 

M. E. C. 



INTEODUCTION 



CHAUCER 



In the year 1340,^ six years before the battle of 
Crecy, there was born in London a child who was 
destined to perpetuate in English the stories of 
chivalry. At Crecy, where cannon were used for 
the first time in European warfare, there appeared 
a force which was bound finally to destroy chiv- 
alry ; for neither Norman castles nor Norman armor 
could withstand the power of firearms. But that 
result was long in coming about. Throughout the 
reign of Edward III. the fashion of chivalry was 
at its height ; the ideal warrior was still the knight 
with '' crested morion" and the lady's favor on his 
sleeve. Moreover, the English mind, which is 
often a little slow in its appreciation of the artistic 
value of things, had not until the fourteenth 
century wakened to the fact that the knight was 
not only a warrior, but also a fit subject for song 
and story. Englishmen, especially those who had 
been on the crusades, began to long for tales of 
knightly deeds, such as were already being sung 
by the poets of France and Italy. The time was 

* This date is not definitely settled, but Chaucer's 
birth was certainly nearer 1 340 than the traditional 1328. 

9 



10 INTRODUCTION 

ripe therefore for a master poet who would tell 
those same stories, and others, in the English 
tongue. That master poet came in the person of 
Geoffrey Chaucer. 

Chaucer was happy in having not only a poet's 
power and a poet's opportunity, but also in living 
at the court of Edward III., the very heart of the 
English life of the fourteenth century, and being 
worldly wise in the interesting fashions of the 
times. It was a time of strange contrasts, when 
the romance of feudalism was jostling against the 
prosaic good sense of a growing business world, 
and the struggle between them was not yet decided. 
Chaucer was involved in both sides of the struggle 
in a way which to us seems almost contradictory, 
but which at the time was quite possible and 
natural; he was both a romancer and a man of 
affairs, and scarcely more the one than the other. 

At sixteen or seventeen he became a page to 
Elizabeth, Duchess of Clarence, the wife of Lionel, 
son of Edward III. , and from that time on he was 
all his life more or less actively engaged in the 
service of the royal family. Perhaps it was while 
he was a page, in the intervals of running errands 
and polishing armor, that he began to turn his 
reading to account by putting into his own words 
the stories he read; for we know that even 
then he was an omnivorous reader, and notliing 
could be more natural than that he should have 
entertained the other pages, and even the young 



CHAUCER 11 

princes, one of whom, John of Gaunt, was about 
his own age, with the recital of wonderful tales 
from Ovid or the French romancers. But whatever 
the reason was, the young Chaucer soon became a 
favorite with the court. He went with the army 
to France in 1359, and when taken prisoner was 
ransomed by no less a person than the king himself. 
To be sure, the king paid less for the freedom of 
the young poet than he paid the next day for a 
good horse; but that fact did not prove that he 
held his servant in slight regard, for he soon took 
Chaucer into his own service, spoke of him as 
'UlHectits valettus noster^'' and granted him a 
pension and a gift of clothes every Christmas. 
Chaucer maiTied a maid of honor who was a name- 
sake of the good Queen Philippa, the wife of 
Edward III. 

He rose steadily in royal favor, holding several 
important positions, among them that of Comp- 
troller of Customs for the port of London ; in this 
position he was obliged to make the ''rolls," — 
that is, the bills and accounts, — ^with his own hand, 
a task which was no easy one, and the accomplish- 
ment of which proved him a competent business 
man. He was sent abroad on many important 
missions, such as negotiating treaties, and arrang- 
ing for the marriage of the Black Prince's son, 
who afterwards became Eichard II. There is a 
tradition, but no real proof, that on one of these 
journeys (1372-3) he visited Boccaccio at Florence 



12 INTRODUCTION 

and Petrarch at Padua. In 1386 he sat in 
Parliament as a knight of the shire from Kent. 
For a time after Edward III. died, and while 
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who was 
Chaucer's patron and especial friend, was away 
from England, Chaucer lost his offices, and became 
acquainted with the sorrows of poverty and 
neglect. But perhaps he needed that experience 
to show him all sides of life. In any event his 
greatest poverty did not last long, for Eichard 11. 
remembered his early services and gave him an 
office. T\'hen John of Gaunt 's son came to the 
throne as Henry IT. he promptly granted his 
father's friend a comfortable pension; so that 
before Chaucer died in 1400 he was happy in the 
certainty of his sovereign's favor. He was the first 
person buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster 
Abbey. 

All through his long life, Chaucer was reading 
and writing. He re-told many French and Italian 
romances, but always, as Shakspere did, in a way 
that made them thoroughly English in tone; for 
he borrowed only the thread of the story, often 
changing even that to suit his fancy, and making 
the details, the words, and the turn of thought 
new. One of his early long poems was the Bolce 
of the Diicliess^ written in honor of John of 
Gaunt's first wife, who died in 1369. A little 
later he TVTote what he called his ''little tragedy' 
of Troilus and Cresseide; about the same time 



CHAUCER 13 

he made his first version of The Story of Palamon 
and Arcite. Another long poem, called the 
Legende of Good Women^ he wrote at the queen's 
request, to make up for some of the sarcastic 
things he had said about women in his early- 
poems; next to the Canterbury Tales it was his 
best work. The Canterbury Tales^ a collection 
of twenty-four stories, was begun about 1388; and 
upon this poem, which was his masterpiece, 
Chaucer spent a large share of the last twelve years 
of his life. 

Chaucer himself must have been a pleasant man 
to know. From passages scattered through his 
poems we suppose that he was short and plump, 
that he was ''small and fair of face," that he had 
a shy, ''elfish" look, that he usually carried his 
head bent forward and looked on the gTound "as 
he would find a hare," and that his eyes were 
dazed with hard reading. He is pictured with a 
forked beard, "wheat color" when he was young 
and gray when he was not yet old, and with a dark 
gown reaching to his feet and an ink-horn at his 
side. Chaucer loved books, and perhaps was 
thinking of himself when he said of the Clerk : 

For him was levere^ have at his beddes heed 

Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed 

Of Aristotle and his philosophye, 

Than robes riche, or fithele,^ or gay santrye.^ 

^ liefer, i. e. rather; ^ fiddle; ^ a psaltery, a musical instrument, 
something hke a harp. 



14 INTRODUCTION 

But better than books he loved the ^'softe, 
smalle, swote (sweet) grass," and his idea of 
happiness was to lie on the grass of a May morning 
and watch a daisy open to the sun. It seems to us 
now, as we go back to him after reading the poetry 
of the nineteenth century, that he was curiously 
limited in his appreciation of nature, for he never 
mentions the sea nor the sky nor the mountains ; 
but the meadows and flowers and birds, to which his 
eyes were open, he speaks of with a simplicity and 
tenderness which we do not find again until we 
read the lines of Burns and Wordsworth. Chaucer 
loved men and women, too. Although he lived 
among courtiers and princes, he did not scorn 
millers and ploughmen. He looked at people 
through very keen eyes, and laughed at their 
foibles, but without bitterness. He was reticent 
and quiet in manner, but in spite of that fact his 
enjoyment of all sorts of society was genuine. 
One can easily imagine him sitting among a chance 
company of travelers such as he describes in the 
Canterhury Tales^ seeing and hearing everything 
without appearing to watch any one, laughing 
quietly to himself now and then, saying never a 
word until he was called upon to speak, and then 
telling a better story than any of the company had 
ever heard before. 

Besides making many French and Italian stories 
available in English, and adding to them not a 
few stories of his own, Chaucer did another good 



CHAUCER 15 

service for English literature, and indeed for all 
English speaking people. Before the reign of 
Edward III. there was no literary language in 
England which really deserved the name of Eng- 
lish. Since the time of William the Conqueror 
the Norman kings and their followers had gone on 
speaking Norman-French, while the conquered 
Anglo-Saxons had held to their own tongue. The 
two languages had been coming nearer together all 
the time, as the two peoples gradually became one 
nation. But it was not until the time of Edward 
III. that the new language, made of the union of 
Norman and Anglo-Saxon, became the speech of 
the nation. None of the deeds of the great 
Edward are more worthy of remembrance than that 
he decreed that English should be the language 
of court and school. Norman courtiers had to 
learn English, no matter how much they preferred 
French; and school-boys from that time on trans- 
lated their Latin exercises into English. The 
writers who wished to be widely read must write 
in English; accordingly Langland wrote his 
Piers the Ploivman in English, and "Wyclif trans- 
lated the Bible into English. But the language 
of both Langland and Wyclif was crude and 
rugged; it was like a hard path, full of jagged, 
unbroken stones. It was Chaucer who proved &st 
that English, in the hands of a master, might be 
smooth-flowing and musical. The manuscripts of 
Wyclif's Bible were being made while Chaucer 



16 INTRODUCTION 

was writing the Caiiterhurij Tales^ but to us now 
it seems as though Wyclif's work might be a 
hundred years or more older than Chaucer's 
because his language is so much more primitive, so 
much less finished than Chaucer's. It is for this 
reason that the period of modern English literature 
is often dated from Chaucer. Granted that his 
manner is antiquated, that his words often need 
translation, it is still true that most of his lines 
are intelligible to us, and that as much cannot be 
said of any other writer of his time. For his modern- 
ness, as well as the beauty of his language, his 
pupil Lydgate called him the ''load-star of our 
language," Spenser said he was "the well of 
English undefiled," and Tennyson sang of him 
as "Dan Chaucer, the first warbler." 

DKYDEN 

The life of the seventeenth century, in spite of 
the great stir made by the wars of Roundheads and 
Cavaliers, seems less romantic to us than that of 
the fourteenth century, though perhaps not rightly 
so. In the same way, and with more reason, the 
life of Dryden appears much more prosaic than 
that of Chaucer. Dryden was born in 1631, in 
the parish of Aldwinkle, Northampton. There he 
lived the ordinary life of an English boy of good 
family, studying, visiting, and fishing — a sport for 
which he never lost his fondness. "When he was 
thirteen there was a day of excitement at his 



DRYDEN 17 

father's house, when a force of Parliamentarians 
barricaded themselves in the church hard by, and 
were captured and imprisoned by a force of Eoyal- 
ists. But it is probable that young Dry den was 
away at school at the time; certainly he never 
referred to the event in his writings. He prepared 
for the university at the famous school in West- 
minster, where he was a favorite with the master, 
Dr. Busby, and where he wrote good Latin exercises 
and his first English verse. He took his degree at 
Cambridge in 1654 and then stayed at the university 
until 1657, for farther study. From Cambridge 
he went to London, where he soon became famous. 
In 1663 he married Lady Elizabeth Howard; but 
tradition says, whether truly or not, that the 
marriage was not a happy one. For a time he 
held a position which Chaucer had held, that of 
Comptroller of Customs for the port of London; 
but in his case the position was never more than 
an honorary one, and probably even the pay was not 
very regular. In 1670 Dry den was made poet 
laureate and royal historiogi-apher, with a salary 
of £200. Even before this time he had become 
the literary king of London, and the loyal fol- 
lowers who gathered about him of an evening at 
Will's Coffee House took his slightest word as final, 
whether he spoke of the latest news or of politics 
or of the drama of the day or of literature in 
general. Scott gives an interesting, though of 
course largely imaginary picture of him and his 



18 ENTTEODUCTIOX 

court, in The Pirate (Chapter XR'). During 
most of his life, Diyden allowed his politics, and 
his religion also, to be decided by the party in 
power. Under the Commonwealth he was a 
Puritan, under Charles II. he was a Eoyalist and 
a member of the Established Church, and under 
James II. he became a Catholic. 'WTien the Prot- 
^rant William and Mary came to the throne, 
however, he refused to change his faith again, and 
lost his position as poet laureate in consequence. 
Then, like Chaucer, he became acquainted with 
neglect and comparative poverty. But he set him- 
self to meet his misfortunes w^th hard work, and 
wrote industriously and successfully until his death 
in ITOO. He was buried between Chaucer and 
Cowley in 'Westminster Abbey. 

It is almost impossible to think of Dryden's writ- 
ings apart from his life. More truly than of 
almost any other poet it might be said of him that 
his work was his life. Moreover, most of Dryden's 
poems were ''occasional" pieces, written to cele- 
brate some event in which he was interested either 
by his own choice or by the king's wishes. The 
poem which brought Dryden into notice and made' 
him decide en literature as a profession was the 
Heroic Stanzas^ written in praise of Cromwell at 
the time of the great Protector's death. When 
Charles II, came to his father's throne, Dryden 
was ready with praise for him also, and wrote the 
AstrcBa Redux (Justice Eeturned) to celebrate the 



DRYDEN 19 

young monarch's return. With the Restoration 
came a reviyal of the drama, and Dryden, always 
ready to turn his hand to the need of the hour, 
began to write plays. At first he wrote comedies, 
but they went badly. With tragedies he had better 
success, though as we read his plays now we think 
it must have been the perverted taste of the 
audience or the elaborate stage setting — in one play 
there were singing angels and a vision of Pai'adise 
— that carried them through. But these plays, 
most of which were written in rhyme, did good at 
least in the matter of training Dryden to use his 
tools ; for when the time came for his satires and 
didactic poems, he had become a master of the art 
of versification. In 1666 he wi'ote the Aujius 
Mirabilis^ a poem which celebrated the wars with 
Holland and the Great Fhe of London. The 
occasion of his first satire, called Absalom and 
Acliitoplielj was the Popish plot. In this poem 
the poet undertook the defense of the king against 
ShreTvsbury — Achitophel — and the excuse of the 
Duke of Monmouth — Absalom. The Religio Laid,, 
Dryden's next important poem, has been called the 
greatest English didactic poem; it was wi^itten in 
a moderate and apparently sincere spirit of approval 
of the views of the Church of England. Dryden's 
last long poem. The Hind and the Panther^ was 
wi'itten after the accession of James II., and is an 
allegorical defense of the Eoman Catholic Church 
under the symbol of the snow-white hind, against 



20 INTRODUCTION 

the attacks of the English Church, which is 
symbolized by the spotted panther. When Dry den 
lost his position as laureate he again wrote plays. 
Most of his plays, both early and late, were 
adaptations of Shakspere or Moliere or other 
dramatists, or dramatizations of popular stories; 
he even composed an opera, using Paradise Lost 
as a basis. Of his dramas the best are All for 
Love and Don Sehastian. Late in life Dryden 
undertook translations also. He translated Vergil, 
and passages from Homer, Theocritus, Ovid, 
Horace and Lucretius. His last undertakings were 
his book of Fables^ which contained modern 
renderings of Chaucer, translations from Ovid and 
Boccaccio, and the second St. Cecilia Ode^ which 
is usually called Alexander'' s Feast. Dryden 's 
prose ^Titing was always subordinate to his poetry, 
and consisted of prefaces to his poems or defenses 
of them. His chief essay, that on dramatic poetry, 
is an attempt to prove that rhyme is suitable for 
tragedy. His prose style has, however, stood the 
test of time better than his poetic style, because it 
is clear, simple, and direct. 

Early in his career, when Dryden felt called upon 
to explain his failure as a writer of comedies, he 
said of himself: "My conversation is slow and dulL 
my humour saturnine and reserved; in short, 1 am 
none of those who endeavour to break jests in 
company, and make repartees." Perhaps in this 
confession Dryden was a little too hard on himself ; 



DRYDEN 21 

but he doubtless told more than a half-truth. 
There have been many conflicting opinions about 
his character. The truth of the matter seems to 
be that, living as he did in the unimaginative last 
half of the seventeenth century, when men made 
too much of their reason and valued too lightly 
warmth of heart. Dry den was rather too cold and 
practical. He was in danger of caring more for an 
argument than for the man who made it, and more 
for a well-turned line than for the moral effect of 
the idea it expressed. He lived a life too narrowly 
literary. He did sometimes go to the country for 
a short visit ; but he was usually hard at work in 
London, he never went abroad, and he never saw 
life except through the eyes of a writer and critic. 
Wordsworth says that "there is not a single image 
from nature in all of Dryden's works," and while 
that criticism is not literally true, as some half 
dozen lines in Palamon and Arcite testify, it is 
true that Dryden did not love nature well enough 
to break away from the literary conventionalities 
of his time. He was not "saturnine;" but he was 
rather cold and stiff, and not so frank and joyous 
and responsive to the world and the people in it 
as Chaucer was. 

Dryden must not, however, be criticised too 
severely. He lived in the beginning of the "classic 
age" of English literature, when it was the fashion 
to study Homer and Vergil rather than life, and to 
imitate the classics rather than to write new verses 



22 INTRODUCTION 

that should be truer than the classics to modern 
life. The result was inevitable; there was an 
artificial standard for literature, and people did 
not ask of a new poem "Is it true?" but "Is it 
like the classics?" Dryden, certainly, was partly 
responsible for setting this fashion; but he also, in 
part, merely reflected his age. If he was a trifle cold 
he was full of manly vigor and enterprise ; if he 
was sometimes coarse he was always witty and work- 
manlike ; if he did not study very closely the feel- 
ings of the human heart he did study the workings 
of the human mind, and leave us a fairly clfear 
record of the thought of his day. 

THE STORY OF PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The story of Palamon and Arcite is the first 
one told by Chaucer in the series of stories called 
the Canterbury Tales. In the Prologue of the 
Cayiteriury Tales Chaucer tells how twenty-nine 
pilgrims spend the night at the Tabard Inn in 
Southwark on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas 
a Becket at Canterbury, and how, as they start out 
together the next morning, they agree to enliven 
the journey by telling stories. As the company is 
a motley one, including a knight, a squire, a 
yeoman, a prioress, a monk, a friar, a merchant, a 
clerk (student), a sergeant of law (lawyer), a 
franklin (country gentleman), a haberdasher, a 
doctor, a plougliman, a miller, and several other 
people, the stories are of very different sorts and 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 23 

are told in very different fashions. Some of 
them, indeed, Chaucer feels called upon to apolo- 
gize for ; not so for this first one, which is told by 
the knight, who naturally speaks first because of 
his social position. Chaucer calls the story simply 
The Krdglites Tale, The knight himself is repre- 
sented as haying just come home from the crusades 
and as still weai'ing a bufE jerkin stained with the 
wear of his armor ; accordingly this tale of chival- 
rous dcTotion and knightly deeds comes appropri- 
ately from his lips. 

The origin of the story of Palamon and Arcite 
is not known. It is quite possible that it was told 
at first as an independent story, and was afterwards 
connected with the name of Theseus, because this 
name was a favorite subject of romance, and came 
to be used in many legends which did not originally 
belong to Theseus himself. However that may 
be, it was taken from the Latin poet Statins by 
Boccaccio, who elaborated it in his Teseide into a 
poem of ten thousand lines. In Boccaccio's hands 
it has all the characteristics of a medieval tale; 
for example, the prayers of Emily and the two 
knights before the tournament are personified, and 
are sent to the gods to make the requests in person, 
while after the tournament the story follows 
Arcite's soul in its journey to heaven. Chaucer's 
version is not simply a translation, but rather a 
working-over so complete as to produce an almost 
original story ; he reduces the poem to two thousand 



24: INTEODUCTION 

two liundred and fifty lines, makes the characters 
much more vivid and real, and the story itself 
more probable, and therefore more modern in tone. 
Dryden again expands the poem by nearly two 
hundred lines. His version is a much closer trans- 
lation of Chaucer's than Chaucer's is of Boc- 
caccio's; but Dryden did not scruple to change 
the lines decidedly when he saw fit. Dryden 
follows Chaucer, however, in giving the story an 
English setting. Inasmuch as Chaucer's knowl- 
edo^e of Greek life was verv measrer, his version is 
full of anachronisms, chief among which is the 
impossible term "Greek chivalry." But as there 
is no evidence that such a person as Theseus ever 
lived and as therefore the story is not a good sub- 
ject for historical study, the fault is not a grievous 
one. 

DETDEX'S STYLE 

However interesting it might be for the pupil to 
make a careful comparison of the styles of Chaucer 
and Dryden, it would scarcely be possible for him 
to do so with nothing more of Chaucer 's poem at 
hand than the meager passages given in the foot- 
notes. Those passages may well serve, however, 
to bring out by contrast the more important 
qualities of Dryden 's style. 

The basis of versification is the same in Chaucer 
and Dryden. Both poets write in heroic couplets, 
that is, in iambic pentameter, the lines rhyming 



DRYDEN'S STYLE 25 

in pairs. Such verse is peculiarly likely to be 
monotonous, and both poets show skill in varying 
the rhythm. Dry den sometimes substitutes a 
trochee or a spondee for an iambus, as in the lines : 

Marching | he chanced | to cast | his eye | aside. | 
and 
Waked, as | her cus- | torn was, | before | the [ day. | 

He occasionally adds a foot ; this iambic hexameter 
line is called an Alexandrine : 

Two youth- I ful knights \ they found | beneath | a 

load I oppressed. | 
He also occasionally rhymes three successive lines 

(V. 1. 31, 163, 188, etc.). 

Dryden's rhyme, which, like Chaucer's, is 
often imperfect, is better than it seems to us, be- 
cause the seventeenth century pronunciation made 
many words sound alike which are not alike in 
modern pronunciation. For instance, joined was 
pronounced jined^ and the couplet 

By fortune he was now to Venus trined, 
And with stern Mars in Capricorn was joined, 

was a perfect one. After this allowance is made, 
however, the fact remains that Dryden's rhyming is 
often careless. 

Dryden's verse is more regular than Chau- 
cer's, and at the same time less musical. It 
is like music played to metronome time, while 
Chaucer's is like music controlled by the player's 



26 INTRODUCTION 

sense of rhythm. For this monotony of effect 
one reason is that a large proportion of Dryclen's 
sentences are divided into clauses a line long; 
accordingly, the pause in reading and the pause 
in meter coincide, the voice falls at the end of 
the line, and the time-beat becomes too notice- 
able. For an illustration of the relief which 
comes from carrying the thought of one line over 
into the next, compare the following passages : 

Dryden, 1. 545 — 
It hap- I pened once | that slum- | bering as^ | he lay, | 
He dreamt | (his dream | began | at break | of day), | 
That Her- | mes o'er | his head | in air | appeared, | 
And with^ | soft words | his droop- | ing spir- | its 
cheered. | 

Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 525— 
At The- I bes, in^ | his con- | tree as- | I seyde, | 
Upon I a night | in sleep | as he^ | him leyde, | 
Him thoughte | how that* | the win- | ged god | Mercu- 

I rie 
Biforn | him stood, | and bad | him to^ | be mur- | ye. 

The voice naturally joins the phrase '* Biforn 
him stood" with the preceding line, and thus 
prevents the sing-song effect which Dryden 's lines 
have. The same extracts illustrate well a second 
reason for the greater monotony of Dryden 's 
rhythm, namely, that the metrical stress in Dry- 
den's line falls more often upon a syllable that 



BRYDEX'S STYLE 27 

must be accented in reading, and that the time- 
beat within the line can therefore be disregarded 
less often than in Chaucer's line. The syllables 
which bear a metrical accent that may be passed 
over in reading are numbered in the two passages, 
and it is worthy of remark that there are only 
two in Dryden's lines, against five in Chaucer's. 

In their choice of words Dryden and Chaucer 
differ widely. Dryden believes in the literary value 
of fine phrases, Chaucer in the appropriateness of 
simple words. Where Chaucer says that Palamon 
"caste his eye upon Emelya," Dryden says that 
he ''descried the charms of Emily" ; where Chaucer 
tells how Theseus ''let Arcite out of prison," 
Dryden tells how Theseus "restored Arcite to 
liberty"; where Chaucer speaks of Theseus 's 
"giving Arcite gold, " Dryden speaks of Theseus 's 
"largely entertaining Arcite with sums of gold." 
Dryden even occasionally sacrifices clearness or 
definiteness to an alliteration or a play upon words, 
as, for example, in the phrase "full of museful 
mopings, ' ' and the line, 

Beholds what e'er he would but what he would behold 

Dryden's diction often lacks the best artistic 
quality, therefore, because it lacks naturalness. 
On the other hand it has interest for the scholarly 
reader because many words which we now use only 
in their derived meanings are used by Dryden in 
their literal meaning. 



28 INTRODUCTION 

Both Chaucer and Dryden often use long, loose 
sentences, and sometimes fail to make subordinate 
clauses depend grammatically upon principal 
clauses (Y. 1. 304 and 786). Dryden also occasion- 
ally forgets that he has begun a dependent clause, 
and goes on with it as though it were principal (V. 
1. 886). A marked characteristic of Dryden 's 
style is the frequency of the balanced sentence. 
The setting of phrase against phrase, clause against 
clause, was not a new fashion in Dryden's time; 
but there was an epigrammatic, witty flavor in this 
style of v/riting which appealed to Dryden, and he 
fell into the habit of using.it constantly , thereby 
establishing a fashion which was followed and car- 
ried to the extreme by Pope. 

The first quality of Dryden's style which im- 
presses the reader, and indeed which explains 
nearly every adverse criticism which can be passed 
upon it, is its lack of simplicity. IN^ot only are 
his words pretentious in sound, bat he sees his 
thoughts on their large and pompous side. There 
is a greater difference than a difference in word- 
ing between Chaucer's "ther is a noyse of 
peple" and Dryden's "The people rend the sky 
with vast applause." Chaucer is never afraid of 
a simple idea, nor of a homely one, if it is clear 
and pat. He says that Arcito *'wex lene, anddrye 
as is a shaft," and that his ^^disposicioun is turned 
al up-so-doun"; Dryden trims the thoughts up, as 
well as the phrases, saying that Arcite 



DRYDEN'S STYLE 29 

looks as wan 
As the pale spectre of a murdered man. 

This lack of simplicity runs into such exaggera- 
tions as are expressed in 

Heaven is not but where Emily abides 
And where she's absent, all is hell besides, 

and many similar passages. Another phase of the 
same quality shows in the oyer-emphasized, strained 
effect of such lines as 

He swells with wrath; he makes outrageous moan; 
He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground. 

These lines destroy sympathy because they try 
too hard to excite it. Dryden's artificiality, which 
comes out in his treatment both of nature and of 
people, is only another proof of his failure to take 
the world simply and naturally. There is much 
more feeling for Chaucer's favorite month in the 
three words "faire, fresshe May" than in Dryden's 
elaborate reference to the month when ''Nature's 
ready pencil paints the flowers." In the same way 
there is an eye to literary effect rather than to 
Arcite's real love for Emily when the dying knight 
is made to say 

I feel my end approach and thus embraced 
Am pleased to die. 

Chaucer's line 

And softe tak me in your armes tweye 
For love of God. 

has the real pathos which Dryden's lacks. 



30 IXTRODUCTIOX 

Dry den is much less specific than Chaucer. 
Chaucer tells the color of Emily's hair, the 
age of King Emetrius, the exact hour at which 
Palamon goes to the temple of Venus. ]S^ot only 
does Dryden pass over such realistic details, but 
when he expresses the same thought that Chaucer 
does, he gives it in less pointed form. lie is 
impersonal and general where Chaucer is personal 
and definite. In Chaucer, Arcite's comfort to Pal- 
amon has to do only with the two knights them- 
selves : 

So stood the heven when that we were born ; 
We moste endure it : this is the short and pleyn. 

while in Dryden the sentiment applies to the 
whole world: 

Whate'er ]>etides, by Destiny 'tis done; 

And better bear like men than vainly seek to shun. 

Moreover, Dryden adds many generalizations 
which do not occur in Chaucer, such as, 

The proverb holds, that to be wise and love 
Is hardly granted to the gods above, 

and. 

Law is to things which to free choice relate ; 
Love is not in our choice, but in our fate. 

Such sweeping statements enlarge the back- 
ground of the poem, but at the expense of reality 
and yiyidness. 

The fact that Dryden 's poem is nearly two hun- 



DRYDEN'S STYLE 31 

dred lines longer than Chaucer 's is proof that Dry- 
den cannot tell a story as concisely as Chaucer. He 
has the power of condensed phrasing — witness such 
expressions as ''Creon old and impious," "the 
woful captive kinsmen, " the Creator's ''all -seeing 
and all-making mind," — but not of compact 
narratiye. In the first place he wrote hurriedly, 
with little revision, and in the second place he was 
not content to let words suggest thoughts, but felt 
bound to state explicitly each phase of his idea. 
For example, in the extract given for scanning (1. 
545), Chaucer, whose first line is merely intro- 
ductory, tells the story of Arcite 's dream in three 
lines where Dry den takes four. 

In spite of the many points in which Dryden 's 
style falls short of the ideal, it has a stateliness 
which commends it. His language is stiff and 
artificial ; yet it was the accepted literary language 
of his time, and reminds us, not ungratefully, of 
that day of powdered wigs, velvet coats, artful 
conversations, and courtly manners. Chaucer's 
writing is quaint, simple, light-hearted, unconven- 
tional, full of wit and humor ; Dryden 's is purposely 
learned, serious almost to heaviness, lacking in 
humor, and only laboriously witty. Chaucer is 
spontaneous, as though he wrote for the love of 
writing; Dryden is premeditated, as though he 
wrote for fame and money. ISTevertheless, Dryden 
is a literary workman "who needeth not to be 
ashamed," and is not altogether unworthy of 



32 INTRODUCTION 

Doctor Johnson's praise that ''Dryden found 
English poetry brick and left it marble." 

DKYDEX'S ESTIMATE OF CHAUCER 

Dry den called Chaucer the "Father of English 
Poetry, " and spoke of him as a "pei/petual fountain 
of good sense." The following extract from the 
introduction to the FaUes is interesting because it 
not only gives Dryden's opinion of Chaucer, but 
also his reason for rewiuting Chancers" poems: 

Chaucer, I confess, is a rough diamond, and must first 
be pohshed, ere he shines. I deny not Hkewise, that, 
living in our early days of poetry, he writes not always 
of a piece ; but sometimes mingles trivial things with 
those of greater moment. Sometimes, also, though not 
often, he runs riot, like Ovid, and know^s not when he 
has said enough. But there are more great wits besides 
Chaucer, whose fault is their excess of conceits, and those 
ill sorted. An author is not to write all he can, but only 
all he ought. Having observed this redundancy in 
Chaucer (as it is an easy matter for a man of ordinary 
parts to find fault in one of greater), I have not tied 
myself to literal translation; but have often omitted 
what I judged unnecessary, or not of dignity enough to 
appear in the company of better thoughts. I have 
presumed further, in some places, and added somewhat 
of my own where I thought my author was deficient, 
and had not given his thoughts their true lustre, for 
want of words in the beginning of our language. And 
to this I was the more emboldened, because (if I may 
be permitted to say it myself) I found I had a soul con- 
genial to his, and that I had been conversant in the 
same studies. 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 

This edition of Palamon and Arcite differs from 
previous ones in giving more of the Chaucer text, 
and in emphasizing the fact that the poem is more 
Chaucer's than Dryden's. The teacher is urged 
to belittle the difficulty of reading Chaucer, to take 
it for granted that the pupil can read the footnotes 
readily, and to add to the interest of the poem by 
making as full a comparative study as possible 
of the two poems. If the teacher is not familiar 
with the pronunciation and the grammar of 
Chaucer, he will find adequate directions for the 
pronunciation in Volume I. of the Riverside Edition 
of Chaucer's works, for the grammar in Morris 
and Skeat's edition of the Prologue and KnigJites 
Tale^ etc. (Clarendon Press Series.) The pleasure 
of his pupils in hearing Chaucer well read will 
amply repay him for taking some trouble in the 
matter. But if it is impossible for him to acquire 
the pronunciation, it would be better to mispro- 
nounce Chaucer's lines than to leave them unread. 

In reading the story two points should be con- 
stantly kept in mind, namely, a thorough com- 
prehension of the story and a definite study of the 
style. If the pupil comprehends the story perfectly 

33 



34 INTRODUCTION 

he will be able at any point to give in his own 
words the argument, the description, or the senti- 
ments, as well as the events. In studying the style 
lie will need somewhat heroic treatment if he is to 
be saved from glittering generalities. It is hoped 
that the treatment given above of the style of 
Dryden will be a help toward definiteness. 

The study of words and sentences may well be 
made the subject of written exercises, varied from 
day to day — one day a list of words used in their 
literal meanings, another day a list of effective 
descriptive words and phrases, another several loose 
sentences rewritten in more closely welded form, or 
with Dryden's imperfect sequence of tense cor- 
rected, and still another, a passage rewritten in 
more simple wording than Dryden's. These exer- 
cises may be used to give point to the pupil's read- 
ing without taking much of his time or of the 
teacher's, and may give a good amount of technical 
di411. A moment's comment on such a set of 
exercises at the beginning of a recitation will often 
impress a class more than long discussions when the 
pupils have done no writing. The same method 
may be made to bring out the further characteristics 
of Dryden's style. One passage may be rewritten 
— in prose, of course — to tell the story more com- 
pactly, another to omit Dryden's general or 
cynical comments, his lapses in unity, etc. Such 
paraphrasing with a definite purpose is invaluable, 
and will lead the pu23il to make for himself dis- 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 35 

coyeries about his author's characteristics, whereas 
paraphrasing with no other purpose than retelling 
the story is deadening. 

The study of figures is not so important as that 
of words and sentences, but some treatment of 
them is advisable. The elementary grouping of 
figures into those that are founded on resemblance 
and those that are not, will clarify the subject in 
the pupil's mind. Personification is plentiful in 
the poem, and need not be dwelt upon ; the similes 
speak for themselves ; in the case of metaphors it 
is well to insist that the pupil fill out the compari- 
son, even to the extent of making a complete 
simile. Metonymy, as the typical figure of the 
class not founded on resemblance, should be 
emphasized whenever the instance occurs, and 
carefully distinguished from metaphor. 

The versification need not be dwelt on long. 
The pupil should however be able to scan the lines, 
and should learn to notice for himself poor rhymes, 
triple rhymes, the Alexandrine verses, and the 
mutilated rhythm of such lines as "The inevitable 
charms of Emily" (1. 232). 

For any broad literary criticism the high school 
pupil is not ready. By attempting it he only 
befuddles himself, and takes away the pleasure of 
trained discrimination which awaits him in his col- 
lege course if he confines himself to the a b c's 
of criticism before entering. The teacher, how- 
ever, may read as broadly as he will and is the proper 



36 INTRODUCTION 

medium for whatever light is to be shed on tlie 
reading by the great critics. 

The best aid to the pupil's imagination, as well 
as to his sense of style, is constant writing. The 
subjects of the themes written outside of class 
should come from the book in hand, but should be 
narrowly limited. The pujiil will never know 
whether he has a definite idea in his own mind of 
the temple of Mai's until he writes out the descrip- 
tion of it from memory, nor will he ever be so well 
l)repared to decide whether Dry den's description is 
vivid or not until he has made the attempt to 
describe the same thing himself. A half dozen 
short themes, for instance, one to describe Emily, 
one to tell what the pupil imagines Palamon and 
Arcite had done before the expedition against 
Thebes, one to tell what Tlieseus thought when he 
discovered them fighting, one on the lists — includ- 
ing a map of the place — one on one of the temples, 
and another on the funeral of Arcite, would be 
infinitely better than a long theme on a general 
subject. 

The notes are not intended to supersede the 
dictionary. The meaning of even unusual words is 
not given if the words are defined in the standard 
dictionaries. A glossary of proper names is added 
for the benefit of pupils who have not a classical 
dictionary at hand, rather than for those who have. 
The footnotes are given in place of notes in pas- 
sages where Chaucer's text explains Dryden's. In 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 37 

three instances long extracts from Chaucer's text 
have been given, in order that the pupil may make 
for himself a comparative study of the two styles. 
The teacher will find it an invaluable exercise for 
the pupil to compare the two texts, line for line, 
and to draw his own conclusions from his observa- 
tions as definitely as though he were performing an 
experiment in chemistry. It is only from such 
clearly-defined training that a quickened literary 
sense will come to the mind of the average high 
school student. Meantime the teacher must foster 
the pupil's sense of beauty by keeping the main 
points of the story in mind, and by calling atten- 
tion to well-chosen w^ords, to well-turned phrases, 
and to well-conceived pictures. 



38 INTRODUCTION 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Chaucer 

Chaucer, English Men of Letters Series, Ward. 
Studies in Chaucer, Lounsbury. Vol. Ill, Chap. II. 
Histoinj of English Literature, Taine. Vol. I. 
My Study Windows, Lowell. 

Text of Chaucer. — An excellent and inexpensive 
edition of Chaucer is Morris and Skeat's Prologue and 
Knighfes Tale in the Clarendon Press Series. 

Drydex 

Lives of the Poets, Johnson, edited by Matthew 
Arnold. Vol. II. 

Lh^yden, Scott's Edition. Vol. I. 

English Poets, Chalmers. Vol. VIII. 

Bidden, English Men of Letters Series, Saintsbury. 

History of English Literature, Taine. Vol. III. 

Among 3Iy Books, Lowell. 

Home Pictures of English Poets, Kate Sanborn. 

Essay on Dryden, Macaulay. 

The Age of Dryden, Richard Garnett. 

Literary Essays, HI, Lowell. 



TO 

HEE GEACE THE DUCHESS OF OEMOKD, 

WITH THE FOLLOWING POEM OF 

PALAMON AND ARCITE, FROM CHAUCER. 

Madam, 

The bard who first adorned our native tongue, 

Tuned to his British lyre this ancient song ; 

Which Homer might without a bhish rehearse, 

And leaves a doubtful palm in Vhgil's verse: 
5 He matched their beauties, where they most excel; 

Of love sung better, and of arms as well. 
Vouchsafe, illustrious Ormond, to behold 

What power the charms of beauty had of old ; 

Nor v/onder if such deeds of arms were done, 
10 Inspired by two fair eyes that sparkled like your 
own. 
If Chaucer by the best idea wrought. 

And poets can divine each other's thought, 

The fairest nymph before his eyes he set ; 

And then the fairest was Plantagenet, 
15 Who three contending princes made her prize, 

And ruled the rival nations with her eyes ; 

Who left immxOrtal trophies of her fame, 

And to the noblest order gave the name. 



40 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Like her, of equal kindred to the throne. 
You keep her conquests, and extend your own: 20 
As when the stars, in their ethereal race. 
At length have rolled around the liquid space, 
At certain periods they resume their place, 
From the same point of heaven their course 

advance, 
And move in measures of their former dance ; 25 

Thus, after length of ages, she returns, 
Eestored in you, and the same place adorns; 
Or you j)erform her office in the sphere. 
Born of her blood, and make a new Platonic year. 

true Plantagenet, race divine, so 

(For beauty still is fatal to the line,) 
Had Chaucer lived that angel-face to view, 
Sure he had drawn his Emily from you ; 
Or had you lived to judge the doubtful right. 
Your noble Palamon had been the knight; 35 

And conquering Theseus from his side had sent 
Your generous lord, to guide the Theban govern- 
ment. 

Time shall accomplish that; and I shall see 
A Palamon in him, in you an Emily. 

Aheady have the Fates your path prepared, 40 

And sure presage your future sway declared : 
When westward, like the sun, you took your way, 
And from benighted Britain bore the day. 
Blue Triton gave the signal from the shore, 
The ready Xereids heard, and swam before 45 

To smooth the seas ; a soft Etesian gale 



DEDICATION 41 

But just inspired, and gently swelled the sail; 
Portunus took his turn, whose ample hand 
Heaved up the lightened keel and sunk the sand, 

50 And steered the sacred vessel safe to land. 
The land, if not restrained, had met your way, 
Projected out a neck, and jutted to the sea. 
Hibernia, prostrate at your feet, adored 
In you the pledge of her expected lord, 

55 Due to her isle ; a venerable name ; 

His father and his grandshe known to fame ; 
Awed by that house, accustomed to command, 
The sturdy kerns in due subjection stand, 
l^or hear the reins in any foreign hand. 

60 At your approach, they crowded to the port; 
And scarcely landed, you create a court : 
As Ormond's harbinger, to you they run. 
For Yenus is the promise of the Sun. 

The waste of civil w^ars, their towns destroyed, 

65 Pales unhonoured, Ceres unemployed, 
Were all forgot ; and one triumphant day 
Wiped all the tears of three campaigns away. 
Blood, rapines, massacres, were cheaply bought, 
So mighty recompense your beauty brought. 

TO As when the dove returning bore the mark 
Of earth restored to the long-labouring ark, 
The relics of mankind, secure of rest. 
Oped every window to receive the guest. 
And the fair bearer of the message blessed ; 

75 So, when you came, with loud repeated cries, 
The nation took an omen from your eyes, 



42 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

And God advanced his rainbow in the skies, 
To sign inviolable peace restored ; 
The saints, with solemn shouts, proclaimed the new 
accord. 

When at your second coming you appear so 

(For I foretell that millenary year) 
The sharpened share shall vex the soil no more. 
But earth unbidden shall produce her store ; 
The land shall laugh, the circling ocean smile, 
And Heaven's indulgence bless the holy isle. 85 

Heaven from all ages has reserved for you 
That happy clime, which venom never knew; 
Or if it had been there, your eyes alone 
Have power to chase all poison, but their own. 

Now in this interval, which Fate has cast 9o 

Betwixt your future glories and your past. 
This pause of power, 'tis Ireland's hour to mourn; 
While England celebrates your safe return. 
By which you seem the seasons to command. 
And bring our summers back to their forsaken 95 
land. 

The vanquished isle our leisure must attend, 
Till the fair blessing we vouchsafe to send ; 
Nor can we spare you long, though often we may 

lend. 
The dove was twice employed abroad, before 
The world was dried and she returned no more. 100 

Nor dare we trust so soft a messenger. 
New from her sickness, to that northern air; 
Rest here awhile your lustre to restore, 



DEDICATION 43 

That they may see you as you shone before ; 
105 For yet, the eclipse not wholly past, you wade 

Throuo'h some remains and dimness of a shade. 
A subject in his prince may claim a right, 

Nor suffer him with strength impaired to fight; 

Till force returns, his ardour we restrain, 
no And curb his warlike wish to cross the main. 
Now past the danger, let the learned begin 

The inquiry, where disease could enter in ; 

How those malisfnant atoms forced their way, 

What in the faultless frame they found to make 
their prey, 
115 Where every element was weighed so well. 

That Heaven alone, who mixed the mass, could tell 

Which of the four ingredients could rebel ; 

And where, imprisoned in so sweet a cage, 

A soul might well be pleased to pass an age. 
120 And yet the fine materials made it weak; 

Porcelain, by being pure, is apt to break. 

Even to your breast the sickness durst aspire; 

And, forced from that fah temple to retire, 

Profanely set the holy place on fire. 
125 In vain your lord, like young Vespasian, mourned, 

When the fierce flames the sanctuary burned; 

And I prepared to pay in verses rude 

A most detested act of gratitude : 

Even this had been your Elegy, which now 
130 Is offered for your health, the table of my vow. 
Your angel sure our Morley's mind inspired, 

To find the remedy your ill required. 



44 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

As once the Macedon, by Jove's decree, 
Was taught to di'eam a herb for Ptolemy : 
Or Heaven, which had such over-cost bestowed 135 
As scarce it could afford to flesh and blood, 
So liked the frame, he would not work anew, 
To save the charges of another yon ; 
Or by his middle science did he steer, 
And saw some great contingent good appear, mo 

AVell worth a miracle to keep yon here; 
And for that end, preserved the precious mould. 
Which all the future Ormonds was to hold ; 
And meditated, in his better mind. 
An heir fromx you, who may redeem the failing 145 
kind. 

Blessed be the power which has at once restored 
The hopes of lost succession to your lord ; 
Joy to the first and last of each degree. 
Virtue to courts, and, what I longed to see, 
To you the Graces, and the Muse to me. i50 

daughter of the Eose ! whose cheeks unite 
The differing titles of the Eed and White; 
Who Heaven's alternate beauty well display, 
The blush of morning, and the milky way ; 
Whose face is Paradise, but fenced from sin; 155 

For God in either eye has placed a cherubin. 

All is your lord's alone; even absent, he 
Employs the care of chaste Penelope. 
For him you waste in tears your widowed hours. 
For him your curious needle paints the flowers; ^qq 
Such works of old imperial dames were taught, 



I 



DEDICATION 45 

Such for Ascaniiis, fair Elisa wrought. 

The soft recesses of your hours improve 
Thetliree fair pledges of your happy love; 
1C5 All other parts of pious duty done, 

You owe your Ormond nothing but a son, 
To fill in future times his father's place, 
And wear the garter of his mother 's race. 



PALAMOE" A^B AROITE 

Or, The Knight's Tale 
BOOK I 

In days of old there lived, of mighty fame, 

A valiant Prince, and Theseus was his name; 

A chief, who more in feats of arms excelled, 

The rising nor the setting sun beheld. 
5 Of Athens he was lord ; much land he won, 

And added foreign countries to his crown. 

In Scythia with the warrior Queen he strove, 

Whom first by force he conquered, then by love ; 

He brought in triumph back the beauteous dame, 
10 With whom her sister, fair Emilia, came. 

With honour to his home let Theseus ride, 

With Love to friend, and Fortune for his guide, 

And his victorious army at his side. 

I pass then warlike pomp, their proud array, 
15 Their shouts, their songs, their welcome on the 
way; 
But, were it not too long, I would recite 

The feats of Amazons, the fatal fight 

0. — Compare Chaucer's opening lines: 

Whylom, as olde stories tellen us, 

Ther was a duk that highte Theseus ; 

Of Athenes he was lord and governour, 

And in his tyme swich a conquerour 

That gretter was ther noon under the sonne. 

Ful many a riche contree hadde he wonne, 

47 



48 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Betwixt the hardy Queen and hero Knight ; 
The town besieged, and how much blood it cost 
The female ai'my, and the Athenian host; 20 

The sponsals of Hippolyta the Queen ; 
What tilts and turneys at the feast were seen; 
The storm at their return, the ladies' fear: 
But these, and other things, I must forbear. 
The field is spacious I design to sow, 25 

With oxen far unfit to draw the plough : 
The remnant of my tale is of a length 
To tire your patience, and to waste my strength; 
And trivial accidents shall be forborn. 
That others may have time to take their turn, so 

As was at first enjoined us by mine host^ 
That he, whose tale is best and pleases most, 
Should win his supper at our common cost. 
And therefore where I left, I will pursue 
This ancient story, whether false or true, 35 

In hope it may be mended with a new. 
The Prince I mentioned, full of high renown, 
In this array drew near the Athenian town ; 
When, in his pomp and utmost of his pride 
Marching, he chanced to cast his eye aside, 40 

And saw a quire of mourning dames, who lay 

33 (33) ^ — And lat see now who shal the soper winne, 

41 (39).— Wher that ther kneled in the hye weye 

A compaignye of ladies, tweye and tweye, 
Ech after other, clad in clothes blake, 



» The first numbers are those of Dryden's lines, the second those 
of Chaucer's (Clarendon Press edition). 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 49 

By two and two across the common way : 
At his approach they raised a rueful cry, 
And beat their breasts, and held their hands on high, 

45 Creeping and crying, till they seized at last 
His courser's bridle and his feet embraced. 

*'Tell me," said Theseus, ''what and whence 
YOU are, 
And why this funeral pageant you prepare? 
Is this the welcome of my worthy deeds, 

50 To meet my triumph in ill-omened weeds? 
Or envy you m^y praise, and would destroy 
With gi'ief my pleasures, and pollute my joy? 
Or are you injured, and demand relief? 
Name your request, and I will ease your giuef.'* 

55 The most in years of all the mourning train 
Began ; but swounded first away for pain ; 
Then scarce recoYered spoke: "Isot euYy we 
Thy gTcat renown, nor grudge thy Yictory ; 
'Tis thine, King, the afflicted to redress, 

60 And fame has filled the world with thy success : 
We TVTctched women sue for that alone, 
Which of thy goodness is refused to none ; 
Let fall som-C drops of pity on our grief. 
If what we beg be just, and we deserYC relief; 

65 For none of us, who now thy gi^ace implore. 
But held the rank of soYcreign queen before ; 
Till thanks to giddy Chance, which ncYcr bears 
That mortal bliss should last for length of years, 

55 (54). — The eldest lady of hem alle spak, 

67 (67) . — Thanked be Fortune, and hir false wheeL 



50 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

She cast iis headlong from our high estate, 

And here in hope of thy return we wait, „^ 

And long have waited in the temple nigh, 

Built to the gracious goddess Clemency. 

But reverence thou the power whose name it bears, 

Relieve the oppressed, and wipe the widow's teai's. 

I, ^Tetched I, have other fortune seen. 

The wife of Capaneus, and once a Queen: 

At Thebes he fell ; cursed be the fatal day ! 

And all the re^t thou seest in this array 

To make their moan, their lords in battle lost 

Before that town besieged by our confederate host, g^ 

But Creon. old and impious, who commands 

The Theban city, and usurps the lands. 

Denies the rites of funeral fii'es to those 

"Whose breathless bodies vet he calls his foes. 

Unburned, unburied, on a heap they lie ; ^ 

Such is then' fate, and such his tyranny ; 

No fi'iend has leave to beai' away the dead, 

But with their lifeless limbs his hounds are fed." 

At this she shrieked aloud ; the mournful train 

Echoed her gi'ief , and, gi'ovelling on the plain. 



90 



81 (82).— Fulfild of ire and of iniquitee. 

89 {01).— 

They fillen gi*uf,^ and cry den pitously, 
*Have on us wrecched wommen som mercy, 
And lat our sorwe sinken in tliyn herte.' 
Notice tliat it is Dryden's straining after dramatic 
effect here that blinds him to the real feeling of the 
scene. 



Tell on their faces. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 51 

With groans, and hands upheld, to move his mind, 
Besought his pity to their helpless kind. 

The Prince was touched, his tears began to flow, 
And as his tender heart would break in two, 

95 He sighed; and could not but their fate deplore. 
So wretched now, so fortunate before. 
Then lightly from his lofty steed he flevf, 
And raising one by one the suppliant crew, 
To comfort each, full solemnly he swore, 

100 That by the faith which knights to knighthood bore. 
And whatever else to chivalry belongs. 
He would not cease, till he revenged their wrongs : 
That Greece should see performed what he declared, 
And cruel Creon find his just reward. 

105 He said no more, but shunning all delay, 
Eode on, nor entered Athens on his way: 
But left his sister and his queen behind. 
And waved his royal banner in the wind, 
Where in an argent field the God of War 

no Was drawn triumphant on his iron car ; 

Eed was his sword, and shield, and whole attire, 
And all the godhead seemed to gloYi with fire ; 
Even the gTound glittered where the standard flew. 
And the green grass was dyed to sanguine hue. 

n5 High on his pointed lance his pennon bore 
His Cretan fight, the conquered Minotaur: 
The soldiers shout around with generous rage. 
And in that victory their own presage. 

100 (101) . — And swoor his oth, as he was trewe knight, 
105 (116) . — And forth he rit ; ther is namore to telle. 



52 PALA3I0N AND ARCITE 

He praised their ardour, inly pleased to see 

His host, the flower of Grecian chiyalry. joq 

All day he mai'ched, and all the ensuing night, 

And saw the city with returning light. 

The process of the war I need not tell, 

How Theseus conquered, and how Creon fell ; 

Or after, how by storm the walls were won, 125 

Or how the victor sacked and burned the town ; 

How to the ladies he restored again 

The bodies of their lords in battle slain; 

And with what ancient rites they were interred ; 

All these to fitter times shall be deferred : 130 

I spai'e the widows' tears, then* woful cries, 

And howling at their husbands' obsequies; 

How Theseus at these funerals did assist, 

And with what gifts the mourning dames dismissed. 

Thus when the victor chief had Creon slain, 135 

And conquered Thebes, he pitched upon the plain 
His mighty camp, and when the day returned. 
The country wasted and the hamlets burned, 
And left the pillagers, to rapine bred, 
Without control to strip and spoil the dead. no 

There, in a heap of slain, among the rest 
Two youthful knights they found beneath a load 

oppressed 
Of slaughtered foes, whom first to death they sent. 
The trophies of their strength, a bloody monument. 

138 (146).— And dide with al the contree as hini leste.^ 



^Listed, pleased. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 53 

145 Both fair, and both of royal blood they seemed, 
Whom kinsmen to the crown the heralds deemed; 
That day in equal arms they fought for fame i 
Then swords, then- shields, their surcoats were the 

same. 
Close by each other laid they pressed the gi'ound, 
150 Their manly bosoms pierced with many a grisly 
wound ; 
Nor well alive nor wholly dead they were, 
But some faint signs of feeble life appear ; 
The wandering breath was on the wing to part, 
Weak was the pulse, and hardly heayed the 
heai^t. 
155 These two were sisters' sons; and Arcite one 
Much famed in fields, with valiant Palamon. 
From these their costly arms the spoilers rent. 
And softly both conveyed to Theseus' tent; 
Whom, known of Creon's line, and cured with 
care, 
160 He to his city sent as prisoners of the war ; 
Hopeless of ransom, and condemned to lie 
In durance, doomed a lingering death to die. 
This done, he mai'ched away with warlike 
sound. 
And to his Athens turned with laurels crowned, 
165 Where happy long he lived, much loved, and more 
renowned. 
But in a tower, and never to be loosed, 

155 (155). — Of whiclie two Arcita hight that oon, 
And that other knight hight Palamon. 



54 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The woful captive kinsmen are enclosed. 

Thus year by year they pass, and day by day, 
Till once, ('twas on the morn of cheerful May) 
The young Emilia, fairer to be seen 170 

Than the fair lily on the flowery green, 
More fresh than May herself in blossoms new, 
(For with the rosy colour strove her hue,) 
AYaked, as her custom was, before the day, 
To do the observance due to sprightly May ; ns 

168-200 (175-197).— Compare Dryden's thirty-three 
lines with Chaucer's twenty-three, noting what Dryden 
adds and what he leaves out. 

This passetli yeer by yeer, and day by day. 
Til it fil ones, in a morwe of May, 
That Emelye, that fairer was to sene 
Than is the iilie upon his stalke grene. 
And f ressher than the May with floures newe — 
For with the rose colour strof hir hewe, 
I noot^ which was the fairer of hem two — 
Er it were day, as was hir wone- to do, 
She was arisen, and al redy dight f 
For May wol have no slogardye anight. 
The sesoun priketh every gentil herte, 
And maketh him out of his sleep to sterte, 
And seith, 'Arys, and do thyn observaunce. ' 
This maked Emelye have remembraunce 
To doon honour to May, and for to ryse. 
Y- clothed was she fresh, for to devyse ;* 
Hir yelow heer was broyded in a tresse, 
Bihynde hir bak, a yerde long, I gesse. 
And in the gardin, at the sonne up-riste, 
She walketh up and doun, and as liir liste^ 
She gadereth floures, party^ whyte and rede, 
To make a sotiF gerland for hir hede, 
And as an aungel hevenly she song. 

^I know not. -Wont, habit. ^j^j-essed. *To tell or de- 
scribe; the phrase is really superfluous. ^Listed, pleased. 
^Partly. 'Subtle; the liienilmeixmng is finely woven. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 55 

For sprightly May commands our youth to keep 
The Yio:ils of her nio-ht, and breaks then* si a ward 

sleep ; 
Each gentle breast with kindly warmth she move^ ; 
Inspu'es new flames, revives extinguished loves. 

180 In this remembrance Emily ere day 
Arose, and dressed herself in rich array, 
Fresh as the month, and as the morning fan-; 
Adown her shoulders fell her length of hair : 
A ribband did the braided tresses bind, 

185 The rest was loose, and wantoned in the wind: 
Aurora had but newly chased the night. 
And purpled o'er the sky with blushing light, 
When to the gai^den-walk she took her way, 
To sport and trip along in cool of day, 

190 And offer maiden vows in honour of the May. 

At every turn, she made a little stand. 

And thrust among the thorns her lily hand 

To draw the rose, and every rose she drew. 

She shook the stalk, and brushed away the dew; 

195 Then party-coloured flowers of white and red 
She wove, to make a garland for her head : 
Thi3 done, she sung and carolled out so clear, 
That men and angels might rejoice to hear; 
Even wondering Philomel forgot to sing, 

200 And learned fi'om her to welcome in the spring. 
The tower, of which before was mention made. 
Within whose keep the captive knights were laid. 
Built of a large extent, and strong withal, 
Was one pai^tition of the palace wall ; 



56 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The garden was enclosed within the square, 205 

Where young Emilia took the morning ah. 

It happened Palamon, the prisoner knight, 
Eestless for woe, arose before the light, 
And with his jailer's leave desired to breathe 
An air more wholesome than the damps beneath. 210 
This granted, to the tower he took his way. 
Cheered with the promise of a glorious day ; 
Then cast a languishing regard around, 
And saw, with hateful eyes, the temples crowned 
With golden spires, and all the hostile ground. 215 

He sighed, and turned his eyes, because he knew 
'Twas but a larger jail he had in view; 
Then looked below, and from the castle's height 
Beheld a nearer and more pleasing sight ; 
The garden, which before he had not seen 220 

In spring's new livery clad of white and green. 
Fresh flowers in wide pai'terres, and shady walks 

between. 
This viewed, but not enjoyed, with arms across 
He stood, reflecting on his country's loss; 
Himself an object of the public scorn, 225 

And often wished he never had been born. 
At last, (for so his destiny requhed). 
With walking giddy, and with thinking tired, 
He through a little window cast his sight, 
Though thick of bars, that gave a scanty light ; 230 
But even that glimaiering served him to descry 
The inevitable charms of Emily. 

Scarce had he seen, but seized with sudden smart, 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 57 

Stung to the quick, he felt it at his heart; 
235 Struck blind with overpowering light he stood, 

Then started back amazed, and cried aloud. 

Young Aixite heard; and up he ran with haste. 

To help his friend, and in his arms embraced; 

And asked him why he looked so deadly wan, 
240 And whence, and how, his change of cheer began? 

Or who had done the offence? "But if," said he, 

**Your gi'ief alone is hard captivity. 

For love of Heaven with patience undergo 

A cureless ill, since Fate will have it so: 
245 So stood our horoscope in chains to lie, 

And Saturn in the dungeon of the sky, 

Or other baleful aspect, ruled our birth 

When all the friendly stars were under earth ; 

Whate'er betides, by Destiny 'tis done; 
250 And better bear like men than vainly seek to shun. ' ■ 
*'Nor of my bonds," said Palamon again, 

''Nor of unhappy planets I complain; 

But when my mortal anguish caused my cry. 

The moment I was hurt through either eye ; 
255 Pierced with a random shaft, I faint away, 

And perish with insensible decay : 

A glance of some new goddess gave the wound, 

Whom, like Actseon, unawai^e I found. 

Look how she walks along yon shady space ; 
260 Not Juno moves with more majestic grace, 

And all the Cyprian queen is in her face. 

If thou art Yenus, (for thy charms confess 

That face was formed in heaven), nor art thou less, 



58 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Disguised in habit, undisguised in shape, 
help us captives from our chains to scape ! 286 

But if our doom be past in bonds to lie 
For life, and in a loatlisome dungeon die, 
Then be thy wrath appeased with our disgrace. 
And show compassion to the Theban race. 
Oppressed by tyrant power!" — While yet he spoke, 2:0 
Arcite on Emily had fixed his look ; 
The fatal dart a ready passage found 
And deep within his heart infixed the wound : 
So that if Palamon were wounded sore 
Ai'cite was hurt as much as he or more. 275 

Then from his inmost soul he sighed, and said, 
**The beauty I behold has struck me dead: 
Unknowingly she strikes, and kills by chance; 
Poison is in her eyes, and death in every glance. 
Oh, I must ask; nor ask alone, but move 280 

Her mind to mercy, or must die for love." 
Thus Arcite: and thus Palamon replies, 
(Eager his tone, and ardent were his eyes,) 
*'Speakst thou in earnest, or in jesting vein?" 
'* Jesting," said Arcite, "suits but ill with pain." 285 
**It suits far worse," (said Palamon again. 
And bent his brows), "with men who honour weigh, 
Their faith to break, their fi-iendship to betray ; 
But worst with thee, of noble lineage born. 
My kinsman, and in arms my brother sworn. 290 

Have we not plighted each our holy oath, 

266 (250).— And if so be my destinee be shapen 
By eteme word to dyen in prisoun, 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 59 

That one should be the common good of both ; 
One sonl sliould both inspu-e, and neither prove 
His felloTv's hindi'ance in pursuit of love? 
295 To this before the Gods Tve crave om^ hands, 
And nothing but our death can break the bands. 
This binds thee, then, to farther my design, 
As I am bound by vow to farther thine : 
Xor canst, nor darest thou, traitor, on the plain 
300 Appeach my honour, or thy own maintain, 
Since thou art of my council, and the friend 
Whose faith I trust, and on whose care depend. 
And wouldst thou com-t my lady's love, which I 
Much rather than release, would choose to die? 
S05 But thou, false Arcite, never shalt obtain 
Thy bad pretence : I told thee fii'st my pain : 
For first my love began ere thine was born ; 
Thou as my council, and my brother sworn. 
Art bound to assist my eldership of right, 

310 Or justly to be deemed a perjured knight.' ' 
Thus Palamon : but Arcite with disdain 
In haughty language thus replied again : 
"Forsworn thyself: the traitor's odious name 
I first return, and then disprove thy claim. 

315 If love be passion, and that passion nurst 
With strong desires, I loved the lady fii^st. 
Canst thou pretend desire, whom zeal inflamed 
To worship, and a power celestial named? 

313 (295).— 

'Thou shalt, ' quod he, 'be rather fals than I ; 
But thou art fals, I telle thee utterly. ' 



60 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Thine was devotion to the blest above, 

I saw the woman, and desired her love; sso 

First owned ni)^ passion, and to thee commend 

The important secret, as my chosen friend. 

Suppose (which yet I grant not) thy desire 

A moment elder than my rival fire ; 

Can chance of seeing first thy title prove? 325 

And knowst thou not, no law is made for love; 

Law is to things which to free choice relate ; 

Love is not in our choice, but in our fate ; 

Laws are not positive; love's power we see 

Is Nature's sanction, and her first decree. 330 

Each day we break the bond of human laws 

For love, and vindicate the common cause. 

Laws for defence of civil rights are placed. 

Love throws the fences down, and makes a general 

waste. 
Maids, widows, wives without distinction fall; 335 

The sweeping deluge, love, comes on, and covers 

all. 
If then the laws of friendship I transgress, 
I keep the gi^eater, while I break the less; 
And both are mad alike, since neither can possess. 
Both hopeless to be ransomed, never more 340 

To see the sun, but as he passes o'er. 
Like /Esop's hounds contending for the bone, 
Each pleaded right, and would be lord alone : 
The fruitless fight continued all the day, 

328 (311). — A man moot needes love, maugree his 
heed. (A man must needs love in spite of reason.) 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 61 

345 A cur came by, and snatched the prize away. 
As courtiers therefore justle for a grant, 
And when they break their friendship, plead their 

want, 
So thou, if Fortune will thy suit advance, 
LoYC on, nor envy me my equal chance : 

350 For I must love, and am. resolved to try 
My fate, or failing in the adventure die." 

Great was their strife, which hourly was renewed, 
Till each with mortal hate his rival viewed : 
Now friends no more, nor walking hand in hand; 

355 But when they met, they made a surly stand. 
And glared like angiy lions as they passed. 
And wished that every look might be their last. 

It chanced at length, Pirithous came to attend 
This worthy Theseus, his familiar friend; 

360 Their love in early infancy began, 

And rose as childhood ripened into man. 
Companions of the war; and loved so well, 
That when one died, as ancient stories tell, 
His fellow to redeem him went to hell. 

365 But, to pursue my tale: to welcome home 
His warlike brother is Pirithous come : 
Arcite of Thebes was known in arms long since 
And honoured by this young Thessalian prince. 

349 (325). — Love if tliee list; for I love and ay shal; 
And sothly , ^ leve^ brother, this is al. 

359 (333).— A worthy duk that highte Perotheus, 
367 (344).— Duk Perotheus loved wel Arcite, 



^Truly. ^Loved, beloved. 



62 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Theseus, to gratify his friend and guest, 

Who made our Arcite's freedom his request, 37o 

Restored to liberty the captive knight ; 

But on these hard conditions I recite ; 

That if hereafter Arcite should be found 

Within the compass of Athenian ground, 

By day or night or on whate'er pretence, 375 

His head should pay the forfeit of the offence. 

To this Pirithous for his friend agreed, 

And on his promise was the prisoner freed. 

Unpleased and pensive hence he takes his 

way. 
At his own peril ; for his life must pay. 38o 

Who now but Arcite mourns his bitter fate, 
Finds his dear purchase, and repents too late? 
*'What have I gained," he said, "in prison 

pent. 
If I but change my bonds for banishment? 
And banished from her sight, I suffer more 385 

In freedom, than I felt in bonds before ; 
Forced from her presence, and condemned to 

live. 
Unwelcome freedom, and unthanked reprieve : 
Heaven is not, but where Emily abides, 
And where she's absent, all is hell besides. 39o 

Next to my day of birth, was that accurst. 
Which bound my friendship to Pirithous first : 
Had I not known that prince, I still had been 
In bondage, and had still Emilia seen : 
For though I never can her gi^ace deserve, 395 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 63 

'Tis recompense enough to see and serve. 
Palamon, my kinsman and my friend, 
How much more happy fates thy love attend ! 
Thine is the adventure, thine the victory, 

400 Well has thy fortune turned the dice for thee : 
Thou on that angel's face mayest feed thy eyes. 
In prison, no ; hut blissful paradise ! 
Thou daily seest that sun of beauty shine, 
And loves t at least in love's extremest line. 

405 I mourn in absence, love's eternal night; 

And who can tell but since thou hast her sight, 
And art a comely, young, and valiant knight, 
Fortune (a various power) may cease to frown, 
And by some wa3^s unknown thy v/ishes crown? 

4:0 But I, the most forlorn of human kind, 
Nor help can hope, nor remedy can find; 
But doomed to drag my loathsome life in care. 
For my reward, must end it in despair. 
Fire, water, air, and earth, and force of fates 

415 That governs all, and Heaven that all creates, 
Nor art, nor Nature's hand can ease my gTief ; 
Nothing but death, the wretch's last relief: 
Then farewell youth, and all the jo5's that dwell 

396 (373).— 

Only the sighte of liir, whom that I serve, 
Though that I nevere hir grace may deserve, 
Yf olcte han suffised right ynough for me. 

418 (391).— 

Wei oughte I sterve in wanhope^ and distresse ; 
Farwel my lyf, my lust,^ and my gladnesse. 



^Despair, 2 pleasure. 



64 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

With youth and life, and life itself, farewell! 

" But why, alas! do mortal men in vain 420 

Of Fortune, Fate, or Providence complain? 
God gives us what He knows our wants require, 
And better things than those which we desire: 
Some pray for riches; riches they obtain; 
But, watched by robbers, for their wealth are slain : 425 
Some pray from prison to be freed ; and come. 
When guilty of their vows, to fall at home ; 
Murdered by those they trusted with their life, 
A favoured servant or a bosom wife. 
Such dear-bought blessings happen every day, 430 

Because we know not for what things to pray. 
Like drunken sots about the streets we roam : 
Well knows the sot he has a certain home. 
Yet knows not how to find the uncertain place. 
And blunders on, and staggers every pace. 435 

Thus all seek happiness ; but few can find. 
For far the greater part of men are blind. 
This is my case, who thought our utmost good 
Was in one word of freedom understood : 
The fatal blessing came: from prison free, 440 

I starve abroad, and lose the sight of Emily." 

Thus Arcite: but if Arcite thus deplore 
His sufferings, Palamon yet suffers more. 

432 (403). — We far en as he that dronke is as a mous;^ 

441 (415). — Sin that I ma}^ nat seen yov/, Emelye, 
I nam but deed ; ther nis^ no reniedye. 



^Mouse. " As drunk as a mouse " and "as drunk as a rat " are 
old sayings, 'Is not. The double negative is common in Chaucer. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 65 

For when he knew his rival freed and gone, 

445 He swells with wrath ; he makes outrageous moan ; 
He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the 

ground ; 
The hollow tower with clamours rings around : 
With briny tears he bathed his fettered feet. 
And dropped all o'er with agony of sweat. 

450 *'Alas!" he cried, "I, wretch, in prison pine, 
Too happy rival, while the fruit is thine : 
Thou livest at large, thou drawest thy native air, 
Pleased with thy freedom, proud of my despair : 
Thou mayest, since thou hast youth and courage 
joined, 

455 A sweet behaviour and a solid mind, 
Assemble ours, and all the Theban race, 
To vindicate on Athens thy disgrace ; 
And after (by some treaty made), possess 
Fair Emily, the pledge of lasting peace. 

460 So thine shall be the beauteous prize, while I 
Must languish in despair, in prison die. 
Thus all the advantage of the strife is thine. 
Thy portion double joys, and double sorrows mine. " 
The rage of jealousy then fired his soul, 

465 And his face kindled like a burning coal : 
Now cold despair, succeeding in her stead. 
To livid paleness turns the glowing red. 
His blood, scarce liquid, creeps within his veins, 

460 (435).— 

Greet is thin avauntage, 
More than is myn, that sterve here in a cage. 



66 PALAMOX AND ARCITE 

Like water which the freezing wind constrains. 

Then thus he said : ''Eternal Deities, 47o 

Who rule the world Tvdth absolute decrees, 

And write whatever time shall bring to pass, 

With pens of adamant on plates of brass ; 

What is the race of human kind your care 

Beyond what all his fellow-creatures are? 475 

He with the rest is liable to pain, 

And like the sheep, his brother-beast, is slain. 

Cold, hunger, prisons, ills without a cure. 

All these he must, and guiltless oft, endure; 

Or does your justice, power, or prescience fail, 48o 

When the good suffer and the bad prevail? 

What worse to wretched virtue could befal, 

If Fate or giddy Fortune governed all? 

Xay, worse than other beasts is our estate : 

Them, to pursue their pleasures, you create; 485 

We, bound by harder laws, must curb our will, 

And your commands, not our desires, fulfil; 

Then, when the creature is unjustly slain, 

Yet, after death at least, he feels no pain; 

But man in life surcharged with woe before, 490 

Xot freed when dead, is doomed to suffer more. 

A serpent shoots his sting at unaware ; 

An ambushed thief f orelays a traveller ; 

The man lies murdered, while the thief and 

snake, 
One gains the thickets, and one thrids the brake. 495 

488 (461).— 

And whan a beest is deed, he hath no peyne ; 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 67 

This let divines decide; but well I know, 
Just or unjust, I have my share of woe ; 
Through Saturn seated in a luckless place, 
And Juno's wrath, that persecutes my race; 

500 Or Mars and Venus in a quartil move 
My pangs of jealousy for Arcite's love." 

Let Palamon oppressed in bondage mourn. 
While to his exiled rival we return. 
By this the sun, declining from his height, 

505 The day had shortened to prolong the night : 
The lengthened night gave length of misery, 
Both to the captive lover and the free : 
For Palamon in endless prison mourns, 
And Arcite forfeits life if he returns ; 

510 The banished never hopes his love to see, 
Nor hopes the captive lord his liberty. 
'Tis hard to say who suffers greater pains ; 
One sees his love, but cannot break his chains; 
One free, and all his motions uncontrolled, 

515 Beholds whate'er he would but what he would behold. 
Judge as you please, for I will haste to tell 
What fortune to the banished knight befel. 

When Arcite was to Thebes returned again, 
The loss of her he loved renewed his pain ; 

496 (465).— 

The answere of this I lete^ to divynis, 
I But wel I woot, 2 that in this world gret pyne^ is. 

I 511 (489).— 

i Yow loveres axe I now this questioun, 

I Who hath the worse, Arcite or Palamoun? 



Leave. *Know. ^paju^ 



68 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

What could be worse than never more to see 520 

His life, his soul, his charming Emily? 

He raved with all the madness of despair, 

He roared, he beat his breast, he tore his hair. 

Dry sorrow in his stupid eyes appears, 

For wanting nourishment, he wanted tears; 525 

His eyeballs in their hollow sockets sink. 

Bereft of sleep ; he loathes his meat and drink ; 

He withers at his heart, and looks as wan 

As the pale spectre of a murdered man : 

That pale turns yellow, and his face receives 530 

The faded hue of sapless boxen leaves ; 

In solitary groves he makes his moan, 

Walks early out, and ever is alone; 

Nor, mixed in mirth, in youthful pleasure shares, 

But sighs when songs and instruments he hears. 535 

His spirits are so low, his voice is drowned, 

He hears as from afar, or in a swound. 

Like the deaf murmurs of a distant sound : 

Uncombed his locks and squalid his attire. 

Unlike the trim of love and gay desire ; 540 

But full of museful mopings, which presage 

527 (503).— 

His sleep, his mete, his drink is him biraf t, ^ 
That lene he wex,^ and drye as is a shaft. ^ 

541 (519). — And shortly, turned was al up-so-doun 
Bothe habit and eek* disposicioun 
Of him, this woful lovere daun^ Arcite. 



^Bereft; the modern idiom is, he was bereft of sleep, etc. 
"Grew. ^AiTQ^ Qj. pQie^ ^f^ ^i^e modern phrase " as dry as a 
stick." *Also. "A title of respect, originally given to monks; 
it comes from Dominus. Chaucer himself was called Dan Chaucer. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 69 

The loss of reason and conclude in rage. 

This when he had endured a year and more, 
'Now wholly changed from what he was before^ 

545 It happened once, that, slumbering as he lay, 
He dreamt (his dream began at break of day) 
That Hermes o'er his head in air appeared, 
And with soft words his drooping spirits cheered : 
His hat adorned with wings disclosed the god, 

550 And in his hand he bore the sleep -compelling rod: 
Such as he seemed, when, at his sire's command. 
On Argus' head he laid the snaky wand. 
* 'Arise," he said, ''to conquering Athens go; 
There Fate appoints an end of all thy woe." 

555 The fright awakened Arcite with a start. 
Against his bosom bounced his heaving heart ; 
But soon he said, with scarce recovered breath, 
"And thither will I go, to meet my death. 
Sure to be slain ; but death is my desire, 

560 Since in Emilia's sight I shall expire." 
By chance he spied a mirror while he spoke, 
And gazing there beheld his altered look ; 

550 (529).— 

His slepy yerde^ in hond he bar uprighte ; 
An hat he werede^ upon his heres^ brighte. 

556 (535). — Chaucer says only: 

And with that word Arcite wook* and sterte. 

559 (538).— Ne^ for the drede of death shal I nat spare 
To see my lady, that I love and serve ; 
In hir presence I recche^ nat to sterve.*^ 



^Wand. *Wore. ^gajr, locks. *Woke. ^ Nor; a double 
negative. ^Recche, make no account of (dying). '^Die. 



70 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

^V^ondering, he saw his features and his hue 

So much were changed, that scarce himself he 

knew. 
A sudden thought then starting in his mind, 565 

*' Since I in Arcite cannot Aixite find, 
The world may seaiTh in vain with all their eyes, 
But never penetrate through this disguise. 
Thanks to the change which gi'ief and sickness 

give, 
In low estate I may securely live, 570 

And see, unknown, my mistress day by day." 
He said, and clothed himself in coarse ai'ray, 
A labom'ing hind in show ; then forth he went, 
And to the Athenian towers his journey bent : 
One squire attended in the same disguise, 575 

Made conscious of his master's enterprise. 
Arrived at Athens, soon he came to court. 
Unknown, unquestioned, in that thick resort : 
Proffering for hire his service at the gate. 
To di'udge, draw water, and to run or wait. sso 

So fair befel him, that for little gain 
He served at first Emilia's chamberlain ; 
And watchful all advantages to spy, 
Was still at hand, and in his master's eye; 
And as his bones were big, and sinews strong, 585 

Eef used no toil that could to slaves belong ; 
But from deep wells with engines water drew, 
And used his noble hands the wood to hew. 
He passed a year at least attending thus 
On Emily, and called Philostratus. 590 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 71 

But never was there man of his degree 

So much esteemed, so well beloved as he. 

So gentle of condition was he known, 

That through the court his courtesy was blown : 

595 All think him worthy of a greater place, 
And recommend him to the royal gi^ace ; 
That exercised within a higher sphere. 
His virtues more conspicuous might appear. 
Thus by the general voice was Arcite praised, 

600 And by great Theseus to high favour raised ; 
Among his menial servants first enrolled. 
And largely entertained with sums of gold : 
Besides what secretly from Thebes was sent, 
Of his own income, and his annual rent. 

605 This well employed, he purchased friends and fame, 
But cautiously concealed from whence it came. 
Thus for three years he lived with large increase, 
In arms of honour, and esteem in peace ; 
To Theseus' person he was ever near; 

610 And Theseus for his virtues held him dear. 

600 (582).— 

That of his chambre he made him a squyer, 



BOOK II 

While Arcite lives in bliss, the story turns 
Where hopeless Palamon in prison mourns. 
For six long years immured, the captive knight 
Had dragged his chains, and scarcely seen the 

light : 
Lost liberty and love at once he bore ; gj5 

His prison pained him much, his passion more: 
Xor dai'es he hope his fetters to remove, 
N"or ever wishes to be free from love. 

But when the sixth revolving year was run, I 

And May within the Twins received the sun, ggo 

Were it by Chance, or forceful Destiny, 
Which forms in causes first whate'er shall be. 
Assisted by a friend one moonless night. 
This Palamon from prison took his flight : 
A pleasant beverage he prepared before 025 i 

Of wine and honey mixed, with added store 
Of opium ; to his keeper this he brought. 
Who swallowed unaware the sleepy draught, 

616 (598).— That woodi out of his wit he goth^ for wo: 

622 (608). — As, whan a thing is shapen,^ it shal be, 

623 (605).— The thridde* night, (as olde bokes seyn, 

That al this storie tellen more pleyn). 



*Ma(l. =Goeth. ^Destined. *Tliird. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 73 

And snored secui'e till morn, his senses bound 

630 In slumber, and in long oblivion di'owned. 
Short was the night, and cai^eful Palamon 
Sought the next covert ere the rising sun. 
A thick -spread forest neai' the city lay, 
To this with lengthened strides he took his way, 

635 (For far he could not fly, and feared the day.) 
Safe from pursuit, he meant to shun the light, 
Till the brown shadows of the fidendly night 
To Thebes might favour his intended flight. 
When to his country come, his next design 

640 Was all the Theban race in arms to join, 
And war on Theseus, till he lost his life. 
Or won the beauteous Emilv to wife. 
Thus while his thoughts the lingering day beguile. 
To gentle Arcite let us turn our style ; 

645 Who little dreamt how nigh he was to cai'e. 

Till treacherous fortune caught him in the snai'e. 
The morning lai^k, the messenger of day, 
Saluted in her song the morning gray ; 
And soon the sun arose with beams so bright, 

629 (615).— 
That al that night, thogh that men wolde him shake 
The gayler^ sleep, he mighte nat awake ; 

647 (633).— 

The bisy larke, niessager of daye, 
Sakieth in hir song the niorwe graye ; 
And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte, 
That al the orient laugheth of the Hghte, 
And with his str ernes dryeth in the greves^ 
The silver dropes, hanging on the leves. 



iJailer. ^Qroves. 



74: PALAMON AND ARCITE 

That all the horizon laughed to see the joyous eso 

sight; 
He with his tepid rays the rose renews, 
And licks the dropping leaves, and di'ies the dews; 
When Arcite left his bed, resolved to pay 
Observance to the month of merry May, 
Forth on his fiery steed betimes he rode, 655 

That scarcely prints the turf on which he trod : 
At ease he seemed, and prancing o'er the plains, 
Turned only to the grove his horse's reins. 
The grove I named before, and, lighting there, 
A woodbind garland sought to crown his hair ; 66o 

Then turned his face against the rising day. 
And raised his voice to welcome in the May : 
"For thee, sweet month, the groves green 
liveries wear. 
If not the first, the fairest of the year: 
For thee the Graces lead the dancing hours. 
And Nature's ready pencil paints the flowers : 
When thy short reign is past, the feverish sun 

657 (644).— 

He on a courser, starting^ as the fyr,* 
Is riden into the feeldes, him to pleye. 
Out of the court, were it a myle or tweye ; 

660 (650).— 

Were it of woodebynde or hawethorn-leves, 
And loude he song ageyn^ the sonne shene. 

662-672 (652).— Chaucer has only three lines: 

May, with alle thy floures and thy grene, 
Wel-come be thou, wel faire fresshe May, 
I hope that I som grene gete may. 



665 



^Leaping, prancing. ''Fire. =* Modern idiom, " in the sunshine." 



PALAMON AND AECITE 75 

The sultry tropic fears, and moves more slowly on. 
So may thy tender blossoms fear no blight, 

670 Nor goats with yenomed teeth thy tendrils bite, 
As thou shalt guide my wandering feet to find 
The fragrant greens I seek, my brows to bind." 

His vows addressed, within the grove he strayed, 
Till Fate or Fortune near the place conveyed 

«75 His steps where secret Palamon was laid. 
Full little thought of him the gentle knight. 
Who flying death had there concealed his flight, 
In brakes and brambles hid, and shunning mortal 

sight; 
And less he knew him for his hated foe, 

680 But feared him as a man he did not know. 
But as it has been said of ancient years, 
That fields are full of eyes and woods have ears, 
For this the wise are ever on their guard, 
For unforeseen, they say, is unprepared. 

^^ Uncautious Arcite thought himself alone. 
And less than all suspected Palamon, 
Who, listening, heard him, while he searched the 

grove. 
And loudly sung his roundelay of love : 
But on the sudden stopped, and silent stood, 

675 (658).— 

Ther as by aventure this Palamoun 

Was in a bush, that no man mighte him see, 

For sore afered of his deeth was he. 

687 (669).— 

For in the bush he^ sitteth now ful stille. 



1 Palamon. 



76 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

(As lovers often muse, and change their mood ;) 69o 

Now high as heaven, and then as low as hell, 

Now up, now down, as buckets in a well: 

For Venus, like her day, will change her cheer, 

And seldom shall we see a Friday clear. 

Thus Arcite, having sung, with altered hue 695 

Sunk on the ground, and from his bosom drew 

A desperate sigh, accusing Heaven and Fate, 

And angry Juno's um-elenting hate: 

"Cursed be the day when first I did appear; 

Let it be blotted from the calendar, 7oo 

Lest it pollute the month, and poison all the year. 

Still will the jealous Queen pursue our race? 

Cadmus is dead, the Theban city was : 

Yet ceases not her hate ; for all who come 

From Cadmus are involved in Cadmus' doom. 705 

I suffer for my blood : unjust decree, 

That punishes another's crime on me. 

In mean estate I serve my mortal foe, 

The man who caused my country's overthrow. 

This is not all; for Juno, to my shame, 710 

Has forced me to forsake my former name ; 

Arcite I was, Philostratns I am. 

That side of heaven is all my enemy : 

Mars ruined Thebes ; his mother ruined me. 

Of all the royal race remains but one 715 

712 (699).— 

But ther as I was wont to hote^ Arcite, 

Now highte I Philostrate, noght worth a my te. 



»Be called. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 77 

Besides myself, the unhappy Palamon, 
Whom Theseus holds in bonds and will not free ; 
Without a crime, except his kin to me. 
Yet these and all the rest I could endure ; 

720 But love's a malady without a cure: 

Fierce Love has pierced me with his fiery dart. 
He fries within, and hisses at my heart. 
Your eyes, fair Emily, my fate pui^sue; 
I suffer for the rest, I die for you. 

725 Of such a goddess no time leaves record, 

Who burned the temple where she was adored : 
And let it burn, I never will complain. 
Pleased with my sufferings, if you knew my pain." 
At this a sickly qualm his heart assailed, 

730 His ears ring inward, and his senses failed. 
No word missed Palamon of all he spoke ; 
But soon to deadly pale he changed his look ; 
He trembled every limb, and felt a smart, 
" As if cold steel had glided through his heart ; 

735 ]^or longer stayed, but starting from his place, 
Discovered stood, and showed his hostile face : 
* 'False traitor, Arcite, traitor to thy blood. 
Bound by thy sacred oath to seek my good, 
Now art thou found forsworn for Emily, 

740 And darest attempt her love, for whom I die. 
So hast thou cheated Theseus with a wile. 
Against thy vow, returning to beguile 

735 (720).— 

As he were wood, with face deed and pale, 
He sterte him up out of the buskes thikke, 



78 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Under a borrowed name : as false to me, 

So false thou art to him who set thee free. 

But rest assured, that either thou shalt die, 745 

Or else renounce thy claim in Emily ; 

For though unarmed I am, and, freed by chance. 

Am here without my sword or pointed lance : 

Hope not, base man, unquestioned hence to go, 

For I am Palamon, thy mortal foe." 750 

Arcite, who heard his tale and knew the man. 
His sword unsheathed, and fiercely thus began : 
''Now, by the gods who govern heaven above, 
Wert thou not weak with hunger, mad with lo^'^e. 
That word had been thy last; or in this grove 755 

This hand should force thee to renounce thy love; 
The surety which I gave thee I defy : 
Fool, not to know that love endures no tie, 
And Jove but laughs at lovers' perjury. 
Know, I will serve the fair in thy despite ; 760 

But since thou art my kinsman and a knight. 
Here, have my faith, to-morrow in this gi'ove 
Our arms shall plead the titles of our love : 
And Heaven so help my right, as I alone 
Will come, and keep the cause and quarrel both 765 

unknown. 
With arms of proof both for myself and thee ; 
Choose thou the best, and leave the worst to me. 
And, that at better ease thou mayest abide. 
Bedding and clothes I will this night provide. 
And needful sustenance, that thou mayest be 770 

A conquest better won, and worthy me." 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 79 

His promise Palamon accepts ; but prayed, 
To keep it better than the first he made. 
Thus fair they parted till the morrow's dawn; 

775 For each had laid his plighted faith to pawn. 
Oh Love ! thou sternly dost thy power maintain, 
And wilt not bear a rival in thy reign ! 
Tyrants and thou all fellowship disdain. 
This was in Arcite proved and Palamon : 

780 Both in despair, yet each would love alone. 
Aixite returned, and, as in honour tied. 
His foe with bedding and with food supplied ; 
Then, ere the day, two suits of armour sought. 
Which borne before him on his steed he brought : 

785 Both were of shining steel, and wrought so pure 
As might the strokes of two such arms endure. 
Now, at the time, and in the appointed place, 
The challenger and challenged, face to face, 
Approach ; each other from afar they knew, 

790 And from afar their hatred changed their hue. 
So stands the Thracian herdsman with his spear. 
Full in the gap, and hopes the hunted bear, 
And hears him rustling in the wood, and sees 
His course at distance by the bending trees : 

795 And thinks, Here comes my mortal enemy. 
And either he must fall in fight, or I: 
This while he thinks, he lifts aloft his dart; 
A generous chillness seizes every part, 

775 (764).— 

When ech of hem had leyd his feith to borwe."* 



Given his faith as a pledge. 



80 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The veins pour back the blood, and fortify the 

heart. 
Thus pale they meet; their eyes with fury burn; 80o 
None greets, for none the greeting will return; 
But in dumb surliness each armed with care 
His foe professed, as brother of the war; 
Then both, no moment lost, at once advance 
Against each other, armed with sword and lance: sos 
They lash, they foin, they pass, they strive to bore 
Their corslets, and the thinnest parts explore. 
Thus two long hours in equal arms they stood. 
And wounded wound, till both were bathed in 

blood 
And not a foot of ground had either got, sio 

As if the world depended on the spot. 
Fell Arcite like an angry tiger fared. 
And like a lion Palamon appeared : 
Or, as two boars whom love to battle draws, 
With rising bristles and with frothy jaws, 8i5 

Their adverse breasts with tusks oblique they 

wound. 
With grunts and groans the forest rings around. 
So fought the knights, and fighting must abide. 
Till Fate an umpire sends their difference to decide. 
The power that ministers to God's decrees, 820 

809 (802).— Up to the ancle foghte they in hir blood. 

812 (812). — For certeinly oure appetytes here, 

Be it of werre, or pees, ^ or hate, or love, 
Al is this reuled by the sighte'^ above. 



1 Peace. « providence. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 81 

And executes on earth what Heaven foresees, 
Called Providence, or Chance, or Fatal sway, 
Comes with resistless force, and finds or makes her 

way. 
Nor kings, nor nations, nor united power 

825 One moment can retard the appointed hour ; 

And some one day, some wondrous chance appears, 
Which happened not in centmdes of years : 
For sure, whate'er we mortals hate or love 
Or hope or fear depends on powers above : 

830 They move our appetites to good or ill, 
And by foresight necessitate the will. 
In Theseus this appeal's, whose youthful joy 
Was beasts of chase in forests to destroy ; 
This gentle knight, inspired by jolly May, 

835 Forsook his easy couch at early day, 

And to the woods and wilds pursued his way. 
Beside him rode Hippolyta the queen. 
And Emily attired in lively green. 
With horns and hounds and all the tuneful 
cry, 

S40 To hunt a royal hart within the covert nigh : 
And, as he followed Mars before, so now 
He serves the goddess of the silver bow. 
The way that Theseus took was to the wood. 
Where the two knights in cruel battle stood : 

845 The laund on which they fought, the appointed 
place 
In which the uncoupled hounds began the chase. 
840 (824). — For after Mars he serveth now Diane. 



82 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Thither forth-right he rode to rouse the prey, 

That shaded by the fern in harbour lay; 

And thence dislodged, was wont to leave the wood 

For open fields, and cross the crystal flood. 85o 

Approached, and looking underneath the sun, 

He saw proud Arcite and fierce Palamon, 

In mortal battle doubling blow on blow ; 

Like lightning flamed their fauchions to and fro, 

And shot a dreadful gleam; so strong they strook, 855 

There seemed less force required to fell an oak. 

He gazed with wonder on their equal might. 

Looked eager on, but knew not either knight. 

Eesolved to learn, he spurred his fiery steed 

With goring rowels to provoke his speed. seo 

The minute ended that began the race, 

So soon he was betwixt them on the place ; 

And with his sword unsheathed, on pain of life 

Commands both combatants to cease their strife ; 

Then with imperious tone pursues his threat : 865 

"What are you? why in arms together met? 

How dares your pride presume against my laws, 

As in a listed field to fight your cause, 



849 (834).— 

For thider was the hert wont have his flight, 
And over a brook, and so forth in his weye. 

861 (847).— 

And at a stert he was bitwix hem two, 
And pullede out a swerd and cryed, 'Ho ! 
Namore, up peyne^ of lesing^of your heed.' 



'On pain. ^ Losing. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 83 

Unasked the royal grant ; no marshal by, 

870 As knightly rites require, nor judge to try?" 
Then Palamon, with scarce recovered breath, 
Thus hasty spoke: ''We both deserve the death. 
And both would die ; for look the world around, 
A pair so wretched is not to be found. 

875 Our life's a load; encumbered with the charge, 
We long to set the imprisoned soul at large. 
Now, as thou art a sovereign judge, decree 
The rightful doom of death to him and me; 
Let neither find thy grace, for grace is cruelty. 

880 Me first, 0, kill me first, and cure my woe; 
Then sheath the sword of justice on my foe; 
Or kill him first, for when his name is heard. 
He foremost will receive his due reward. 
Arcite of Thebes is he, thy mortal foe, 

885 On whom thy grace did liberty bestow ; 
But first contracted, that, if ever found 
By day or night upon the Athenian ground, 
His head should pay the forfeit ; see returned 
The perjured knight, his oath and honour scorned: 

890 For this is he, who, with a borrowed name 
And proffered service, to thy palace came, 
Now called Philostratus ; retained by thee, 
A traitor trusted, and in high degree. 
Aspiring to the bed of beauteous Emily. 

895 My part remains, from Thebes my birth I own, 

880 (863). — Butsle me first, for seynte^ charitee; 
But sle my felawe eek as wel as m.e. 



Blessed. 



84 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

And call myself the unhappy Palamon. 

Think me not like that man ; since no disgrace 

Can force me to renounce the honour of my race. 

Know me for what I am: I broke thy chain, 

Nor promised I thy prisoner to remain : 900 

The loYe of liberty with life is given, 

And life itself the inferior gift of Heaven. 

Thus without crime I fled; but farther know, 

I, with this Arcite, am thy mortal foe : 

Then give me death, since I thy life pursue; oa^ 

For safeguard of thyself, death is my due. 

More wouldst thou know? I love bright Emily, 

And for her sake and in her sight will die : 

But kill my rival too, for he no less 

Deserves ; and I thy righteous doom will bless, 910 

Assured that what I lose he never shall possess." 

To this replied the stern Athenian Prince, 

And sourly smiled: "In owning your offence 

You judge yourself, and I but keep record 

In place of law, while you pronounce the word. 915 

Take your desert, the death you have decreed; 

I seal your doom, and ratify the deed: 

By Mars, the patron of my arms, you die." 

He said; dumb sorrow seized the standers-by. 
The Queen, above the rest, by nature good, 920 

909 (882). — But sle my felawe in the same wyse, 
For bothe han we deserved to be slayn. 

920 (890). — The quene anon, for verray wommanhede^ 
Gan for to wepe, and so dide Emelye, 
And alle the ladies in the compaignye. 



^Womanliness. 






PALAMON AND ARCITE 85 

(The pattern formed of perfect womanhood) 

For tender pity wept : when she began, 

Through the bright quire the infectious virtue 

ran. 
All dropt their tears, even the contended maid: 

925 And thus among themselves they softly said : 
*'What eyes can suffer this unworthy sight! 
Two youths of royal blood, renowned in fight, 
The mastership of Heaven in face and mind, 
And lovers, far beyond their faithless kind: 

930 See their wide streaming wounds; they neither 
came 
From pride of empire nor desire of fame : 
Kings fight for kingdoms, madmen for applause; 
But love for love alone, that crowns the lover's 

cause." 
This thought, which ever bribes the beauteous kind, 

935 Such pity wrought in every lady 's mind, 

They left their steeds, and prostrate on the place. 
From the fierce King implored the offenders' grace. 

He paused a while, stood silent in his mood; 
(For yet his rage was boiling in his blood :) 

940 But soon his tender mind the impression felt. 
(As softest metals are not slow to melt 
And pity soonest runs in gentle minds :) 
Then reasons with himself ; and first he finds 
His passion cast a mist before his sense, 

945 And either made, or magnified the offence. 

Offence! Of what? To whom? Who judged the 
cause? 



86 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The prisoner freed himself by Nature's laws; 
Born free, he sought his right ; the man he freed 
Was perjured, but his love excused the deed : 
Thus pondering, he looked under with his eyes, 950 
And saw the women's tears, and heard their cries. 
Which moved compassion more ; he shook his head, 
And softly sighing to himself he said: 

"Curse on the unpardbning prince, whom tears 
can draw 
To no remorse, who rules by lion's law; 955 

And deaf to prayers, by no submission bowed, 
Eends all alike, the penitent and proud!" 
At this with look serene he raised his head ; 
Reason resumed her place, and passion fled: 
Then thus aloud he spoke: — "The power of Love, 960 
In earth, and seas, and air, and heaven above, 
Rules, unresisted, with an awful nod, 
By daily miracles declared a god ; 
He blinds the wise, gives eye-sight to the blind; 
And moulds and stamps anew the lover's mind. 965 
Behold that Arcite, and this Palamon, 
Freed from my fetters, and in safety gone. 
What hindered either in their native soil 



L. 953 (914).— 

And in his gentil herte he thoghte anoon, 
And softe un-to himself he seyde: 'Fy 
Up-on a lord that wol have no mercy, 
But been a leoun,^ bothe in word and dede,' 

960 (927).— The god of love, a! henedicite, 

How mighty and how greet a lord is he ! 






PALAMON AND ARCITE 87 

At ease to reap the harvest of their toil? 

970 But Love, their lord, did otherwise ordain, 
And brought them, in their own despite again, 
To suffer death deserved ; for well they know 
'Tis in my power, and I their deadly foe. 
The proverb holds, that to be wise and love, 

975 Is hardly granted to the gods above. 

See how the madmen bleed ! Behold the gains 
With which their master, Love, rewards their pains I 
For seven long years, on duty every day, 
Lo! their obedience, and their monarch's payl 

980 Yet, as in duty bound, they serve him on ; 
And ask the fools, they think it wisely done; 
Nor ease nor wealth nor life itself regard. 
For 'tis their maxim, love is love's reward. 
This is not all; the fair, for whom they strove, 

985 ISTor knew before, nor could suspect their love, 
N"or thought, when she beheld the fight from far, 
Her beauty was the occasion of the war. 
But sure a general doom on man is past. 
And all are fools and lovers, first or last: 

990 This both by others and myself I know, 
For I have served their sovereign long ago ; 
Oft have been caught within the winding train 
Of female snares, and felt the lover's pain, 
And learned how far the god can human hearts 
constrain. 

974 (940).— Now loketh,i is nat that an heigh folye? 
Who may nat ben a fool, if that he love? 



^Look. 



88 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

To this romembrance, and the prayers of those 995 

Who for the offending warriors interpose, 

I give their forfeit lives, on this accord, 

To do me homage as their sovereign lord ; 

And as my vassals, to their utmost might, 

Assist my person and assert my right." looo 

This freely sworn, the knights their grace obtained; 

Then thus the king his secret thought explained : 

"If wealth or honour or a royal race. 

Or each or all, may w^in a lady's grace. 

Then either of you knights may w^ell deserve ioo5 

A princess born ; and such is she you serve : 

For Emily is sister to the crown. 

And but too well to both her beauty known : 

But should you combat till you both were dead, 

Two lovers cannot share a single bed. loio 

As, therefore, both are equal in degree. 

The lot of both be left to destiny. 

Now hear the award, and happy may it prove 

To her, and him who best deserves her love. 

Depart from hence in peace, and free as air, 1015 

Search the wide world, and where you please 

repair ; 
But on the day when this returning sun 
To the same point through every sign has run. 
Then each of you his hundred knights shall bring, 
In royal lists, to fight before the king; 1020 

And then the knight, whom Fate or happy Chance 
Shall with his friends to victory advance. 
And grace his arms so far in equal fight. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 89 

From out the bars to force his opposite, 
1025 Or kill, or make him recreant on the plain, 
The prize of valour and of love shall gain ; 
The vanquished party shall their claim release, 
And the long jars conclude in lasting peace. 
The charge be mine to adorn the chosen 
ground, 
1030 The theatre of war, for champions so renowned; 
And take the patron's place of either knight, 
With eyes impartial to behold the fight ; 
And Heaven of me so judge as I shall judge 

aright. 
If both are satisfied with this accord, 
1035 Swear by the laws of knighthood on my sword. " 
Who now "but Palamon exults with joy? 
And ravished Arcite seems to touch the sky. 
The whole assembled troop was pleased as well, 
Extolled the award, and on their knees they fell 
1040 To bless the^ gracious King. The knights, with 
leave 
Departing from the place, his last commands 

receive ; 
On Emily with equal ardour look, 
And from her eyes their inspiration took : 
From thence to Thebes' old walls pm^sue their 
way, 
1045 Each to provide his champions for the day. 

It might be deemed, on our historian's part, 
Or too much negligence or want of art, 
If he forgot the vast magnificence 



90 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Of royal Theseus, and his large expense. 

He first enclosed for lists a level ground, 1050 

The whole circumference a mile around ; 

The form was circular ; and all without 

A trench was sunk, to moat the place about. 

Within, an amphitheatre appeared, 

Eaised in degrees, to sixty paces reared: 1055 

That when a man was placed in one degree, 

Height was allowed for him above to see. 

Eastward was built a gate of marble w^hite ; 
The like adorned the western opposite. 
A nobler object than this fabric was loeo 

Eome never saw, nor of so vast a space : 
For, rich with spoils of many a conquered land, 
All arts and artists Theseus could command, 
Who sold for hire, or wrought for better fame; 
The master -painters and the carvers came. loes 

So rose within the compass of the year 
An age's work, a glorious theatre. ^ 
Then o'er its eastern gate was raised above 
A temple, sacred to the Queen of Love; 
An altar stood below : on either hand 1070 

A priest with roses crowned, who held a myrtle ' 

wand. 

1049 (1027).— 

That swich a noble theatre as it was, 

I dar wel seyn that in this world ther nas. ^ 

1056 (1033). — That whan a man was set on o^ degree, 
He lette^ nat his felawe for to see. 



»Was not. 2 One, aHindered. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 91 

The dome of Mars Avas on the gate opposed, 
And on the north a turret was enclosed 
Within the wall of alabaster white 

1075 And crimson coral, for the Queen of Mght, 
Who takes in sylvan sports her chaste delight. 

Within these oratories might yon see 
Eich carvings, portraitures, and imagery: 
Where every figure to the life expressed 

loso The godhead's power to whom it was addi^essed. 
In Venus' temple on the sides were seen 
The broken slumbers of enamoured men ; 
Prayers that even spoke, and pity seemed to call, 
And issuing sighs that smoked along the wall ; 

1085 Complaints and hot desires, the lover's hell. 

And scalding tears that wore a channel where they 

fell; 
And all around were nuptial bonds, the ties 
Of love's assurance, and a train* of lies, 
That, made in lust, conclude in perjuries; 

1090 Beauty, and Youth, and Wealth, and Luxury, 
And sprightly Hope, and short -enduring Joy, 
And Sorceries to raise the infernal powers. 
And Sigils framed in planetary hours ; 
Expense, and After -thought, and idle Care, 

1095 And Doubts of motley hue, and dark Despair ; 
Suspicions and fantastical Surmise, 
And Jealousy suffused, with jaundice in her eyes, 
Discolouring all she viewed, in tawny dressed, 
Down-looked, and with a cuckow on her fist. 

1100 Opposed to her, on the other side advance 



92 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The costly feast, the carol, and the dance, 

Minstrels and music, poetry and play, 

And balls by night, and turnaments by day. 

All these were painted on the wall, and more ; 

With acts and monuments of times before; iio5 

And others added by prophetic doom. 

And lovers yet unborn, and loves to come : 

For there the Idalian mount, and Citheron, 

The court of Venus, was in colours drawn; 

Before the palace gate, in careless dress mo 1 

And loose array, sat portress Idleness ; * 

There by the fount Narcissus pined alone; 

There Samson was ; with wiser Solomon, 

And all the mighty names by love undone. 

Medea's charms were there, Cu'cean feasts, iii5 

With bowls that turned enamoured youths to beasts. 

Here might be seen, that beauty, wealth, and wit, 

And prowess to the power of love submit ; 

The spreading snare for all mankind is laid, 

And lovers all betray, and are betrayed. 1120 

The Goddess ' self some noble hand had wrought ; 

Smiling she seemed, and full of pleasing thought. 

From ocean as she first began to rise, 

And smoothed the ruffled seas, and cleared the skies. 

A lute she held; and on her head was seen 

1119 (1093).— 

Lo, alle thise folk so caught were in hir las,* 
Til they for wo ful ofte seyde "alias.'* 

»Net. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE ^3 

A T\Teatli of roses red and myrtles green ; 
Her turtles fanned the buxom air above ; 

1130 And by his mother stood an infant Love, 

With wings unfledged ; his eyes were banded o 'or, 
His hands a bow, his back a quiyer bore, 
Supplied with arrows bright and keen, a deadly 
store. 
But in the dome of mighty Mars the red 

1135 With different figm^es all the sides were sj)read; 
This temple, less in form, with equal gi^ace, 
Was imitatiye of the first in Thrace ; 
For that cold region was the loyed abode 
And soyereign mansion of the warrior god. 

1140 The landscape was a forest wide and bare. 
Where neither beast nor human kind repair. 
The fowl that scent afar the borders fly. 
And shun the bitter blast, and wheel about the sky. 
A cake of scurf lies baking on the ground, 

1145 And prickly stubs, instead of trees, are found; 
Or woods with knots and knares deformed and old, 
Headless the most, and hideous to behold. 
A rattling tempest through the branches went, 
That stripped them bare, and one sole way they bent. 

1150 Heayen fi'oze aboye severe, the clouds congeal. 
And through the crystal vault appeared the stand- 
ing hail. 
Such was the face without : a mountain stood 
Threatening from high, and overlooked the wood: 

1148 (1122).— 

As though a storm scholde bresten every bough: 



94 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Beneath the lowering brow, and on a bent, 

The temple stood of Mars armipotent : 1155 

The frame of burnished steeL that cast a glare 

From far, and seemed to thaw the freezing air. 

A straight long entry to the temple led, 

Blind with high walls, and hoiTor over head; 

Thence issued such a blast, and hollow roar, iieo 

As threatened from the hinge to heave the door ; 

In through that door a northern light there shone; 

'Twas all it had, for windows there were none. 

The gate was adamant ; eternal frame, 

Which, hewed by Mars himself, from Indian ii65 

quarries came. 
The labour of a God ; and all along 
Tough iron plates were clenched to make it strong. 
A tun about was every pillar there ; 
A polished miiTor shone not half so clear. 
There saw I how the secret felon wrought, ino 

And treason labom'ing in the traitor's thought. 

There the red Anger dared the pallid Fear ; 

Kext stood Hypocrisy, with holy leer. 

Soft, smiling, and demurely looking down, 1175 

But hid the da^reer underneath the ofown; 

The assassinating wife, the household fiend; 

And far the blackest there, the traitor -friend. 

On the other side there stood Destruction bare, 

Unpunished Kapine, and a waste of war ; iiso 

1174: (1141j. — One line in Chaucer: 

The smyler with the knyf under the cloke. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 95 

Contest, with sharpened knives, in cloisters di^awn, 
And all with blood bespread the holy lawn. 
Loud menaces were heard, and foul disgrace, 
And brawling infamy, in language base ; 

1185 Till sense was lost in sound, and silence fled the 
place. 
The slayer of himself yet saw I there. 
The gore congealed was clottered in his hair ; 
With eyes half closed, and gaping mouth he lay. 
And gTim as when he breathed his sullen soul 
away. 

1190 In midst of all the dome Misfortune sate, 
And gloomy Discontent, and fell Debate, 
And Madness laughing in his ireful mood ; 
And armed Complaint on theft ; and cries of blood. 
There was the murdered corps, in covert laid, 

1195 And violent death in thousand shapes displayed : 
The city to the soldier's rage resigned: 
Successless wars, and poverty behind: 
Ships burnt in fight, or forced on rocky shores, 
And the rash hunter strangled by the boars : 

isoo The new-born babe by nurses overlaid; 

And the cook caught within the raging fire he 

made. 
All ills of Mars his nature, flame and steel; 
The gasping charioteer beneath the wheel 

1186 (1147).— 

The sleere of himself yet saugh I ther, 

His herte-blood hath bathed al his heer.^ 
^Hair, 



96 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Of his own car ; the mined house that falls 

And intercepts her lord betwixt the walls : 1205 

The whole division that to Mars pertains, 

All trades of death that deal in steel for gains 

Were there: the butcher, armourer, and smith, 

Who forges sharpened fauchions, or the scythe. 

The scarlet conquest on a tower was placed, 1210 

With shouts and soldiers' acclamations graced: 

A pointed sword hung threatening o'er his head, 

Sustained but by a slender twine of thread. 

There saw I Mars his ides, the Capitol, 

The seer in vain foretelling Caesar's fall; 1215 

The last Triumvirs, and the wars they move, 

And Antony, who lost the world for love. 

These, and a thousand more, the fane adorn ; 

Their fates were painted ere the men were born, 

All copied from the heavens, and ruling force 1220 

Of the red star, in his revolving course. 

The form of Mars high on a chariot stood. 

All sheathed in arms, and gruffly looked the god: 

Two geomantic figures were displayed 

Above his head, a warrior and a maid, 1226 

1214 (1173). — Depeynted was the slaughtre of lulius, 
Of grete Nero, and of Antonius. 

1222 (1183). 

The statue of Mars upon a carte stood, 
Armed, and loked grim as he were wood ; 
And over his heed ther shynen two figures 
Of sterres, that been cleped^ in scriptures,^ 



I 



That oon Puella, that other Riibeus. | 



^Called. *Any important writings; liere, books on astrology. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 97 

One when direct, and one when retrograde. 

Tired with deformities of death, I haste 
To the third temple of Diana chaste. 
A sylvan scene with various greens was drawn, 

1230 Shades on the sides, and on the midst a lawn; 
The silver Cynthia, with her nymphs around. 
Pursued the flying deer, the woods with horns 

resound : 
Calisto there stood manifest of shame, 
And, turned a bear, the northern star became: 

1235 Her son was next, and, by peculiar grace, 
In the cold circle held the second place : 
The stag Actaeon in the stream had spied 
The naked huntress, and for seeing died: 
His hounds, unknowing of his change, pursue 

1240 The chase, and their mistaken master slew. 
Peneian Daphne too was there to see, 
Apollo's love before, and now his tree. 
The adjoining fane the assembled Greeks expressed, 
And hunting of the Calydonian beast. 

1245 CEnides' valour, and his envied prize; 
The fatal power of Atalanta's eyes ; 
Diana's vengeance on the victor shown, 
The murderess mother, and consuming son; 
The Volscian queen extended on the plain, 

1250 The treason punished, and the traitor slain. 
The rest were various huntings, well designed, 
And savage beasts destroyed, of every kind. 
The graceful goddess was arrayed in green ; 
About her feet were little beagles seen, 



98 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

That watched with upward eyes the motions of 1255 

theu' Queen. 
Her legs were buskined, and the left before, 
In act to shoot ; a silver bow she bore, 
And at her back a painted quiver wore. 
She trod a wexing moon, that soon would wane, 
And, di'inking borrowed light, be filled again; 1280 

With downcast eyes, as seeming to survey 
The dark dominions, her alternate sway. 

Theseus beheld the fanes of every god. 

And thought his mighty cost was well bestowed. isro 

So princes now then- poets should regard ; 

But few can write, and fewer can rewai'd. 

The theatre thus raised, the lists enclosed. 
And all with vast magnificence disposed, 
TVe leave the monarch pleased, and haste to bring 1275 
The knights to combat, and their arms to sing. 



BOOK III 

The day approached when Fortune should decide 
The important enterprise, and give the bride; 
For now the rivals round the world had sought, 

1280 And each his number, well appointed, brought. 
The nations far and near contend in choice. 
And send the flower of war by public voice ; 
That after or before were never known 
Such chiefs, as each an army seemed alone: 

1285 Beside the champions, all of high degree, 
Who knighthood loved, and deeds of chivalry, 
Thi'ouged to the lists, and envied to behold 
The names of others, not their own, em^olled. 
K"or seems it strange ; for every noble knight 

1285-1297 (1248-1258).— The passage in Chaucer is two 
lines shorter, and less fulsome in praise of England : 
For every wight that loved chivahye, 
And wolde, his thankes,^ han a passant- name, 
Hath preyed that he mighte ben of that game ; 
And wei was him, that ther-to chosen was. 
For if ther fille to-morwe swich a ca.s, 
Ye knowen wel. that every lusty knight, 
That loveth paramours, ^ and hath his might, 
Were it in Engelond, or elles- where. 
They wolde, hir thankes, ^ wilnen to be there. 
To fighte for a lady, benedicite! 
It were a lusty sighte for to see. 

^Tbankes is an old genitive used idiomatically and meaning he or 
they being willing; it means scarcely more than willingly or gladly. 
^Surpassing. ^'Loyers. 

99 
C 



100 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Who loves the fair, and is endued with might, 1290 

In such a quarrel would be proud to fight. 

There breathes not scarce a man on British ground 

(An isle for love and arms of old renowned) 

But would have sold his life to purchase fame, 

To Palamon or Arcite sent his name; 1295 

And had the land selected of the best, 

Half had come hence, and let the world provide 

the rest. 
A hundred knights with Palamon there came. 
Approved in fight, and men of mighty name; 
Their arms were several, as their nations were, i3W 

But fm-nished all alike with sword and spear. 
Some wore coat-armour, imitating scale; 
And next their skins were stubborn shirts of mail. 
Some wore a breastplate and a light juppon. 
Their horses clothed ^\'ith rich caparison; 1305 

Some for defence would leathern bucklers use 
Of folded hides, and others shields of Pruce. 
One hung a pole-axe at his saddle-bow. 
And one a heavy mace to stun the foe ; 
One for his legs and knees provided well, i3io 

With jambeux armed, and double plates of steel; 
This on his helmet wore a lady's glove. 
And that a sleeve embroidered by his love. 

With Palamon above the rest in place, 
Lycurgus came, the surly king of Thrace ; isib 

Black was his beard, and manly was his face; 
The balls of his broad eyes rolled in his head. 
And glared betwixt a yellow and a red ; 



.1 

J 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 101 

He looked a lion with a gloomy stare, 
1390 And o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair; 

Big-boned, and large of limbs, with sinews strong, 

Broad-shonldered, and his arms were round and 
long. 

Four milk-white bulls (the Thracian use of old) 

Were yoked to draw his car of burnished gold. 
1325 Upright he stood, and bore aloft his shield. 

Conspicuous from afar, and oyerlooked the field. 

His surcoat was a bear -skin on his back; 

His hair hung long behind, and glossy raven-black. 

His ample forehead bore a coronet, 
1330 With sparkling diamonds and with rubies set. 

Ten brace, and more, of greyhounds, snowy fair. 

And tall as stags, ran loose, and coursed around 
his chair, 

A match for pards in flight, in grappling for the 
bear ; 

With golden muzzles all their mouths were bound, 
1335 And collars of the same their necks surround. 

Thus tln-ough the fields Lycurgus took his way ; 

His hundred knights attend in pomp and proud 
array. 
To match this monarch, with strong Arcite came 

Emetrius, king of Inde, a mighty name, 
1340 On a bay courser, goodly to behold, 

The trappings of his horse embossed with barbarous 
gold. 

Not Mars bestrode a steed with greater grace ; 

His surcoat o'er his arms was cloth of Thrace, 



102 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

x\dorncd with pearls, all orient, round, and great; 

His saddle was of gold, with emeralds set ; 1345 

His shoulders large a mantle did attire, 

With rubies thick, and sparkling as the foe; 

His amber-coloured locks in ringlets run, 

With graceful negligence, and shone against the 

sun. 
His nose was aquiline, his eyes were blue, i35o 

Ruddy his lips, and fresh and fair his hue; 
Some sprinkled freckles on his face were seen, 
W^hose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin. 
His awful presence did the crowd surprise, 
Nor durst the rash spectator meet his eyes ; i355 

Eyes that confessed him born for kingly sway, 
So fierce, they flashed intolerable day. 
His age in nature's youthful prime appeared. 
And just began to bloom his yellow beard. 
Whene'er he spoke, his voice was heard around, ^^eo 
Loud as a trumpet, with a silver sound; 
A laurel wTeathed his temples, fresh, and green, 
And mptle sprigs, the marks of love, were mixed 

between. 
Upon his fist he bore, for his delight. 
An eagle well reclaimed, and lily white. ^^^ 

1348 (1307).— 

His crispe heer lyk ringes was y-ronne,^ 
And that was yelow. and filtered as the sonne. 

1354 (1313).— Chaucer has only one line: 
And as a leoun he his loking caste. 

1359 (1314).— Of fyve and twenty yeer his age I caste. 



» Clustered, curled. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 103 

His hundred knights attend him to the war, 

All armed for battle; save their heads were bai'e. 

Words and devices blazed on every shield, 

And pleasing was the terror of the field. 
13T0 For kings, and dukes, and bai'ons you might see, 

Like spai'kling stars, though different in degree, 

All for the increase of arms, and love of chivalry. 

Before the king tame leopards led the way, 

And troops of lions innocently play. 
1375 So Bacchus through the conquered Indies rode, 

And beasts in gambols fi'isked before thek honest 
god. 
In this array the war of either side 

Through Athens passed w4th military pride. 

At prime, they entered on the Sunday morn; 
1380 Eich tapestry spread the streets, and flowers the 
posts adorn. 

The town was all a jubilee of feasts ; 

So Theseus willed in honour of his guests : 

Himself with open arms the kings embraced. 

Then all the rest in their degrees w^ere graced. 
1385 Xo harbinger was needful for the night. 

For every house w^as proud to lodge a knight. 
I pass the royal treat, nor must relate 

The gifts bestowed, nor how the champions sate ; 

Who first, who last, or how the knights addressed 
1390 Their vows, or who was fairest at the feast; 

Whose voice, whose graceful dance did most sur- 
prise, 

Soft amorous sighs, and silent love of eyes. 



104 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The rivals call my Muse another way, 
To sing their vigils for the ensuing day. 

'Twas ebbing darkness, past the noon of night: 1395 
And Phosphor, on the confines of the light, 
Promised the sun; ere day began to spring, 
The tuneful lark already stretched her wing. 
And flickering on her nest, made short essays to sing. 
When wakeful Palamon, preventing day, 1400 

Took to the royal lists his early way. 
To Venus at her fane, in her own house, to pray. 
There, falling on his knees before her shrine, 
He thus implored with prayers her power divine : 
"Creator Venus, genial power of love, ^ hoo 



I 



1395-1404 (1351-1362).— Chaucer has twelve lines to 
Dry den's ten : 

The Sonday night, er^ day bigan to springe, 
When Palamon the larke herde singe, I 

Although it nere nat^ day by houres two, 
Yet song the larke, and Palamon also. 
With holy herte, and with an heigh corage i 

He roos,^ to wenden on his pilgrimage j 

Un-to the blisful Citherea ben^^gne, ' 

I mene Venus, honurable and dygne. ^ \ 

And in hir hom'e he walketh forth a pas I 

Un-to the listes, ther^ hir temple was, ' 

And doun he kneleth, and with hmnble chere ' 

And herte soor, he seide as ye shuP here. 

1405 (1363) . — Chaucer's invocation is much shorter : 

*Faireste of faire, o lady myn Venus, j 

Doughter to love, and spouse of Vulcanus, i 

Thou gladere of the mount of Citheroun 
For thilke^ love thou haddest to Adoun,^ 
Have pitee of my bittre teres smerte, 
And tak myn humble preyere at thin herte. 

^Ere. 2 Double negative; it was not day. ^Rose. *Latin 
dignus; worthy. « Where. «Shall. ^That. « Adonis. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 105 

The bliss of men below, and gods above! 

Beneath the sliding sun thou runst thy race, 

Dost fairest shine, and best become thy place. 

For thee the winds their eastern blasts forbear, 
1410 Thy month reveals the spring, and opens all the year. 

Thee, Goddess, thee the storms of winter fly; 

Earth smiles with flowers renewing, laughs the sky, 

And birds to lays of love their tuneful notes apply. 

'Tis thine, whate'er is pleasant, good, or fair; 
1415 All nature is thy province, life thy care; 

Thou madest the world, and dost the world repair. 

Thou gladder of the mount of Cytheron, 

Increase of Jove, companion of the Sun, 

If e'er Adonis touched thy tender heart, 
1420 Have pity, Goddess, for thou knowest the smart! 

Alas ! I have not words to tell my gTief ; 

To vent my sorrow would be some relief ; 

Light sufferings give us leisure to complain ; 

We groan, but cannot speak, in greater pain. 
1425 Goddess, tell thyself what I would say! 

Thou knowest it, and I feel too much to pray. 

So grant my suit, as I enforce my might. 

In love to be thy champion and thy knight, 

A servant to thy sex, a slave to thee, 
U20 A foe professed to barren chastity: 

Kor ask I fame or honour of the field, 

K or choose I more to vanquish than to yield : 

In my divine Emilia make me blest. 

Let Fate or partial Chance dispose the rest : 
1435 Find thou the manner, and the means prepare; 



106 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Possession, more than conquest, is my care. 

Mars is the waiTior 's god ; in him it lies 

On whom he favours to confer the prize; 

With smiling aspect you serenely move 

In your fifth orb, and rule the realm of love. 1440 

The Fates but only spin the coarser clue, 

The finest of the wool is left for you : 

Spare me but one small portion of the twine, 

And let the Sisters cut below your line : 

The rest among the rubbish may they sweep, 1445 

Or add it to the yarn of some old miser 's heap, 

But if you this ambitious prayer deny, 

(A wish, I grant, beyond mortality,) 

Then let me sink beneath proud Arcite's arms. 

And, I once dead, let him possess her charms." 1450 

Thus ended he ; then, with observance due. 
The sacred incense on her altar threw : 
The curling smoke mounts heavy from the fires ; 
At length it catches flame, and in a blaze expires ; 
At once the gracious Goddess gave the sign, 1455 

Her statue shook, and trembled all the shrine: 
Pleased Palamon the tardy omen took ; 
For since the flames pursued the trailing smoke, 
He knew his boon was granted, but the day 
To distance driven, and joy adjourned with long hgo 
delay. 

Now morn with rosy light had streaked the sky, 
Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily; 

1450 (1402). — Chaucer ends the prayer with the line: 
Yif me my love, thou blisful lady dere. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 107 

Addressed her early steps to Cynthia's fane, 
In state attended by her maiden train, 

1A65 Who bore the vests that holy rites require, 
Incense, and odorous gums, and coyered fire. 
The plenteous horns with pleasant mead they crown 
Nor wanted aught besides in honour of the Moon. 
Now, while the temple smoked with hallowed steam, 

1470 They wash the virgin in a living stream ; 

Her shining hair, uncombed, was loosely spread, 
1480 A crown of mastless oak adorned her head : 

When to the shrine approached, the spotless maid 

Had kindling fires on either altar laid ; 

(The rites were such as were observed of old. 

By Statins in his Theban story told.) 
1485 Then kneeling with her hands across her breast, 

Thus lowly she preferred her chaste request. 
''0 Goddess, haunter of the woodland green, 

To whom both heaven and earth and seas are seen ; 

Queen of the nether skies, where half the year 
1490 Thy silver beams descend, and light the gloomy 
sphere ; 

Goddess of maids, and conscious of our hearts. 

So keep me from the vengeance of thy darts, 

(Which Mobe's devoted issue felt. 

When hissing through the skies the feathered 
deaths were dealt,) 

1463 (1416). — Notice the much greater simplicity of 
Chaucer's line : 

And to the temple of Diane gan hye. 



108 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

As I desii'e to live a virgin life, 1495 

Nor know the name of mother or of wife. 

Thy votress from my tender years I am, 

And love, like thee, the woods and sylvan game. 

Like death, thou knowest, I loathe the nuptial 

state. 
And man, the tyrant of our sex, I hate, 1500 

A lowly servant, but a lofty mate; 

Now by thy triple shape, as thou art seen 

In heaven, earth, hell, and everywhere a queen, i505 

Grant this my first desire; let discord cease, 

And make betwixt the rivals lasting peace: 

Quench their hot fire, or far from me remove 

The fiame, and turn it on some other love; 

Or if my frowning stars have so decreed, 1510 

That one must be rejected, one succeed. 

Make him my lord, within whose faithful breast 

Is fixed my image, and who loves me best. 

But oh ! even that avert ! I choose it not, 

But take it as the least unhappy lot. 1515 

A maid I am, and of thy virgin train; 

Oh, let me still that spotless name retain! 

Frequent the forests, thy chaste will obey. 

And only make the beasts of chase my prey!'' 

The flames ascend on either altar clear, ibso 

While thus the blameless maid addi^essed her prayer. 
When lo ! the burning fire that shone so bright 
Flew off, all sudden, with extinguished li^ht, 

1516(1472) .—And whyl I live a mayde,! wol thee serva 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 109 

And left one altar dark, a little space, 
1525 Which turned self -kindled, and renewed the blaze ; 

That other yictor-flame a moment stood. 

Then fell, and lifeless left the extinguished wood; 

For ever lost, the irrevocable light 

Forsook the blackening coals, and sunk to night: 
1530 At either end it whistled as it flew, 

And as the brands were green, so dropped the dew. 

Infected as it fell with sweat of sanguine hue. 
The maid fi^om that ill omen turned her eyes, 

And with loud shrieks and clamours rent the skies ; 
1535 K'or knew what signified the boding sign. 

But found the powers displeased, and feared the 
wrath divine. 
Then shook the sacred shrine, and sudden light 

Sprung through the vaulted roof, and made the 
temple bright. 

The Power, behold! the Power in glory shone, 
1540 By her bent bow and her keen arrows known ; 

The rest, a huntress issuing fi'om the wood, 

Eeclining on her cornel spear she stood. 

1526 (1477).— 

— and after that anon 
That other fyr was queynt,^ and al agon; 
And as it queynte, it made a whistelinge, 
As doon thise wete brondes in hir brenninge. ^ 
And at the brondes ende out-ran anoon 
As it were blody dropes many oon ; 

1537 (1488).— 

And ther-with-al Diane gan appere, 

With bowe in bond, right as an hunteresse, 

And seyde: 'Doghter, stint thyn hevinesse. 



^Quenched. ^Burning:. 



110 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Then gracious thus began: "Dismiss thy fear, 
And Heaven's unchanged decrees attentive hear : 
More powerful gods have torn thee from my side, 1545 
Unwilling to resign, and doomed a bride ; 
The two contending knights are weighed above; 
One Mars protects, and one the Queen of Love: 
But which the man is in the Thunderer 's breast ; 
This he pronounced, ' 'Tis he who loves thee best.' 1550 
The fire that, once extinct, revived again 
Foreshows the love allotted to remain. 
Farewell!" she said, and vanished from the place; 
The sheaf of arrows shook, and rattled in the case. 
Aghast at this, the royal virgin stood, 1555 

Disclaimed, and now no more a sister of the wood: 
But to the parting Goddess thus she prayed : 
"Propitious still, be present to my aid, 
Nor quite abandon your once favoured maid." 
Then sighing she returned; but smiled betwixt, 1560 
With hopes, and fears, and joys with sorrows mixt. 

The next returning planetary hour 
Of Mars, who shared the heptarchy of power, 
His steps bold Arcite to the temple bent. 
To adorn with pagan rites the power armipotent : 1565 
Then prostrate, low before his altar lay, 

1549 (1495), — But un-to which of hem I may nat telle. 

1560 (1507).— 

And hoom she goth anon the nexte vveye. 
This is theffect,^ ther is namore to seye. 



I The effect, the conclusion. 



PALAMON AXD ARCITE 111 

And raised his manly voice, and thus began to 

pray: 
''Strong God of Arms, vfhose iron sceptre sways 
The freezing North, and Hyperborean seas, 

isro And Scythian colds, and Thi'acia's wintry coast, 
Where stand thy steeds, and thou art honoured most : 
There most, but everywhere thy power is known, 
The fortune of the fight is all thy own : 
Terror is thine, and wild amazement, flung 

1575 From out thy chariot, withers even the strong; 
And disarray and shameful rout ensue. 
And force is added to the fainting crew. 
Acknowledged as thou ai*t, accept my prayer! 
If aught I have achieved deserve thy care, 

1580 If to my utmost power with sword and shield 
I dared the death, unknowing how to yield, 
And falling in mxy rank, still kept the field ; 
Then let my arms prevail, by thee sustained, 
That Emily by conquest may be gained. 

1585 Have pity on my pains ; nor those unknown 
To Mars, which, when a lover, were his own. 
Venus, the public care of all above, 
Thy stubborn heart has softened into love : 

1595 By those dear pleasures, aid my arms in fight, 
And make me conquer in my patron's right: 

1566 (1513).— 

With pitous^ herte and heigh devocioun, 
Right thus to Mars he seyde his orisoun. 



^Piteous, compassionate. 



112 PALAMON AND ARCITE 



For I am young, a novice in the trade, 

The fool of love, unpractised to persuade, 

And want the soothing arts that catch the fair. 

But, caught myself , lie struggling in the snare; leoo 

And she I love or laughs at all my pain 

Or knows her worth too well, and pays me with 

disdain. 
For sure I am, unless I win in arms, 
To stand excluded from Emilia's charms: 
Nor can my strength avail, unless by thee 1605 

Endued Avith force I gain the victory; 
Then for the fire which warmed thy generous heart, 
Pity thy subject's pains and equal smart. 
So be the morrow's sweat and labour mine. 
The palm and honour of the conquest thine : 1610 | 

Then shall the war, and stern debate, and strife ' 

Immortal be the business of my life ; 
And in thy fane, the dusty spoils among. 
High on the burnished roof , my banner shall be hung, 
Eanked with my champion's bucklers; and below? 1615 
With arms reversed, the atchievements of my foe ; 
And while these limbs the vital spirit feeds, 
While day to night, and night to day succeeds, 
Thy smoking altar shall be fat with food 
Of incense and the grateful steam of blood ; 1620 

Burnt-offerings morn and evening shall be thine, 
And fires eternal in thy temple shine. 
The bush of yellow beard, this length of hair, 
Which from my birth inviolate I bear. 
Guiltless of steel, and from the razor free, 1825 



PALAMON AND AECITE 113 

Shall fall a plenteous crop, reserved for thee. 
So may my arms with victory be blest, 
I ask no more; let Fate dispose the rest." 

The champion ceased ; there followed in the close 

1630 A hollow groan ; a murmuring wind arose ; 

The rings of iron, that on the doors were hung, 
Sent out a jarring sound, and harshly rung : 
The bolted gates flew open at the blast. 
The storm rushed in, and Arcite stood aghast : 

1635 The flames were blown aside, yet shone they bright, 
Fanned by the wind, and gave a ruffled light. 

Then from the ground a scent began to rise, 
Sweet smelling as accepted sacrifice : 
.This omen pleased, and as the flames aspire 

1640 With odorous incense Arcite heaps the fire : 
Nor wanted hymns to Mars or heathen charms : 
At length the nodding statue clashed his arms, 
And with a sullen sound and feeble cry. 
Half sunk and half pronounced the word of Victory. 

1645 For this, with soul devout, he thanked the G-od, 
And, of success secure, returned to his abode. 

These vows, thus granted, raised a strife above 
Betwixt the God of War and Queen of Love. 
She, granting first, had right of time to plead; 

1643 (1574).— 

And with that soun he herde a murmnringe 
Ful lowe and dim, that sayde thus, 'Victoria.' 

1645 (1578).— 

Arcite anon un-to his inne is fare 

As fayn^ as foweP is of the brighte sonne. 



^Glad. ^Bird. 



114 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

But he had granted too, nor would recede. i65o 

Jove was for Venus, but he feared his wife, 

And seemed unwilling to decide the strife ; 

Till Saturn from his leaden throne arose. 

And found a way the difference to compose : 

Though sparing of his grace, to mischief bent, 1655 

He seldom does a good with good intent. 

Wayward, but wise; by long experience taught. 

To please both parties, for ill ends, he sought: 

For this advantage age from youth has won. 

As not to be outridden, though outrun. I66O 

By fortune he was now to Venus trined. 

And with stern Mars in Capricorn was joined : 

Of him disposing in his own abode. 

He soothed the Goddess, while he gulled the God: 

'^ Cease, daughter, to complain, and stint the strife; i6C5 

Thy Palamon shall have his promised wife : 

And Mars, the lord of conquest, in the fight 

With palm and laurel shall adorn his knight. 

Wide is my course, nor turn I to my place 

Till length of time, and move with tardy pace. i67c 

Man feels me, when I press the ethereal plains ; 

My hand is heavy, and the wound remains. 

Mine is the shipwreck in a watery sign ; 

And in an earthy the dark dungeon mine. 

Cold shivering agues, melancholy care, 1675 

And bitter blasting winds, and poisoned air, 

1659 (1591).— 

Men may the olde at-renne, and noght at-rede.^ 



»The young may outrun the old, but not surpass them in counsel. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 115 

Are mine, and wilful death, resulting from despair. 

The throttling quinsey 'tis my star appoints, 

And rheumatisms I send to rack the joints : 
1680 When churls rebel against their native prince, 

I arm then hands, and furnish the pretence; 

And housing in the lion's hateful sign. 

Bought senates and deserting troops are mine. 

Mine is the privy poisoning ; I command 
1685 Unkindly seasons and ungrateful land. 

By me kings ' palaces are pushed to ground, 

And miners crushed beneath their mines are found. 

'Twas I slew Samson, when the pillared hall 

Fell down, and crushed the many with the fall. 
1690 My looking is the sire of pestilence. 

That sweeps at once the people and the prince. 

K"ow weep no more, but trust thy grandsire's art, 

Mars shall be pleased, and thou perform thy part. 

'Tis ill, though different your complexions are, 
1695 The family of Heaven for men should war." 

The expedient pleased, where neither lost his right ; 

Mars had the day, and Venus had the night. 

The management they left to Chronos' care; 

Now turn we to the effect, and sing the war. 
1700 In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play. 

All proper to the spring, and sprightly May : 

Which every soul inspired with such delight, 

'Twas justing all the day, and love at night. 

Heaven smiled, and gladded was the heart of man ; 
1705 And Venus had the world as when it first began. 

At length in sleep their bodies they compose, 



116 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

And dreamt the future fight, and early rose. 

Now scarce the dawning day began to spring, 
As at a signal given, the streets with clamours ring: 
At once the crowd arose; confused and high, nio 

Even from the heaven was heard a shouting cry, 
For Mars was early up, and roused the sky. 
The gods came downward to behold the wars. 
Sharpening their sights, and leaning from their 

stars. 
The neighing of the generous horse was heard, i7i5 

For battle by the busy groom prepared : 
Eustling of harness, rattling of the shield. 
Clattering of armour, furbished for the field. 
Crowds to the castle mounted up the street ; 
Battering the pavement with their coursers' feet: 1720 
The greedy sight might there devour the gold 
Of glittering arms, too dazzling to behold: 
And polished steel that cast the view aside. 
And crested morions, with their plumy pride. 
Knights, with a long retinue of their squires, 1725 

In gaudy liveries march, and quaint attires. 
One laced the helm, another held the lance ; 
A third the shining buckler did advance. 
The courser pawed the ground with restless feet, 
And snorting foamed, and champed the golden bit. it3o 
The smiths and armourers on palfi*eys ride, 
Files in their hands, and hammers at their side. 
And nails for loosened spears, and thongs for 

shields provide. 
The yeomen guard the streets in seemly bands ; 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 117 

1735 And clowns come crowding on, with cudgels in 
their hands. 
The trumpets, next the gate, in order placed, 
Attend the sign to sound the martial blast : 
The palace-yard is filled with floating tides. 
And the last comers bear the former to the sides. 

1740 The throng is in the midst ; the common crew 
Shut out, the hall admits the better few. 
In knots they stand, or in a rank they walk. 
Serious in aspect, earnest in their talk ; 
Factious, and favouring this or t'other side, 

1745 As their strong fancies and weak reason guide : 
Their wagers back their wishes ; numbers hold 
With the fair freckled king, and beard of gold : 
So yigorous are his eyes, such rays they cast. 
So prominent his eagle's beak is placed. 

1750 But most their looks on the black monarch bend, 
His rising muscles and his brawn commend ; 
His double-biting axe, and beamy spear. 
Each asking a gigantic force to rear. 
All spoke as partial favour moved the mind ; 

1755 And, safe themselves, at others' cost divined. 

Waked by the cries, the Athenian chief arose, 
The knightly forms of combat to dispose ; 
And passing through the obsequious guards, he sate 
Conspicuous on a throne, sublime in state; 

1736 (1653).— 

Pypes, trompes, nakers,^ clariounes, 
That in the bataille blowen blody sounes.^ 



^Kettle-drums. * Sounds. 



118 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

There, for the two contending knights he sent; i76o 
Armed cap-a-pe, with reverence low they bent : 
He smiled on both, and with superior look 
Alike their offered adoration took. 
The people press on every side to see 
Their awful Prince, and hear his high decree. n65 

Then signing to their heralds with his hand, 
They gave his orders from their lofty stand. 
Silence is thrice enjoined ; then thus aloud 
The king-at-arms bespeaks the knights and listening 
crowd : 
''Our sovereign lord has pondered in his mind i770 
The means to spare the blood of gentle kind ; 
And of his grace and inborn clemency. 
He modifies his first severe decree. 
The keener edge of battle to rebate, 
The troops for honour fighting, not for hate. 1775 

He wills, not death should terminate their strife, 
And wounds, if wounds ensue, be short of life; 
But issues, ere the fight, his dread command. 
That slings afar, and poniards hand to hand. 
Be banished from the field ; that none shall dare 1780 
With shortened sword to stab in closer war ; 
But in fair combat fight with manly strength, 

1758 (1670).— 

Duk Theseus was at a window set, 
Arrayed right as he were a god in trone.^ 

1771 (1683).— 

Wherfore, to shapen^ that they shul not dye, 
le wol his firste purpos modifye. 



.*0n a throne. ^MalLe sure. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 119 

Nor piisli with biting point, but strike at length. 
The tnrney is allowed but one career 

1785 Of the tough ash, with the sharp-grinclecl speai*, 
But knights unhorsed may rise from off the plain, 
And fight on foot their honour to regain; 
Nor, if at mischief taken, on the ground 
Be slain, but prisoners to the pillar bound, 

1790 At either barrier placed; nor, captives made, 
Be freed, or armed anew the fight invade : 
The chief of either side, bereft of life, 
Or yielded to his foe, concludes the strife. 
Thus dooms the lord: now valiant knights and 
young, 

1795 Fight each his fill, with swords and maces long." 
The herald ends : the vaulted firmament 
With loud acclaims and vast applause is rent : 
Heaven guard a Prince so gracious and so good, 
So just, and yet so provident of blood! 

isoo This was the general cry. The trumpets sound. 
And warlike symphony is heard around. 
The marching troops through Athens take thek 

way, 
The great Earl-marshal orders their array. 
The fair from high the passing pomp behold; 

1805 A rain of flowers is from the windows rolled. 

1796 (1703).— 

The TOTS of peple touchede the hevene, 
So loude cry den they with niery stevene^ : 
'God save swich a lord, that is so good, 
He wilneth no destruccioun of blood. ' 



1 Sound. 



120 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The casements are with golden tissue spread. 
And horses' hoofs, for earth, on silken tapestry 

tread. 
The King goes midmost, and the rivals ride 
In equal rank, and close his either side. 
Next after these there rode the royal wife, isio 

With Emily, the cause and the reward of strife. 
The following cayalcade, by three and three, 
Proceed by titles marshalled in degree. 
Thus through the southern gate they take their 

way. 
And at the list arrived ere prime of day. i8i5 

There, parting from the King, the chiefs divide. 
And wheeling east and west, before their many ride. 
The Athenian monarch mounts his throne on high, 
And after him the Queen and Emily : 
Next these, the kindred of the crown are graced 1820 
"With nearer seats, and lords by ladies placed. 
Scarce were they seated, when with clamours loud 
In rushed at once a rude promiscuous crowd. 
The guards, and then each other over bare. 
And in a moment throng the spacious theatre. 1825 

Now changed the jarring noise to whispers low, 
As winds forsaking seas more softly blow. 
When at the western gate, on which the car 
Is placed aloft that bears the God of War, 
Proud Arcite entering armed before his train i830 

Stops at the barrier, and divides the plain. 
Eed was his banner, and displayed abroad 
The bloody colours of his patron god. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 1^1 

At that self moment enters Palamon, 

1835 The gate of Venus, and the rising Sun; 

Waved by the wanton winds, his banner flies, 
All maiden white, and shai'es the people's eyes. 
From east to west, look all the world around, 
Two troops so matched were never to be found ; 

1840 Such bodies built for strength, of equal age, 
In stature sized ; so proud an equipage : 
The nicest eye could no distinction make. 
Where lay the advantage, or what side to take. 
Thus ranged, the herald for the last proclaims 

1845 A silence, while they answered to their names: 
For so the king decreed, to shun with care 
The fraud of musters false, the common bane of 

war. 
The tale was just, and then the gates were closed; 
And chief to chief, and troop to troop opposed. 

1850 The heralds last retired, and loadly cried, 
"The fortune of the field be fairly tried!" 
At this the challenger, with fierce defy 
His trumpet sounds ; the challenged makes reply : 
With clangour rings the field, resounds the vaulted 
sky. 

1855 Their vizors closed, their lances in the rest. 
Or at the helmet pointed, or the crest. 
They vanish from the barrier, speed the race, 
And spurring see decrease the middle space. 

1851 (1740).— 

Do now your devoir,^ yonge knightes proude! 



^French word meaning duty. 



1^3 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

A cloud of smoke envelopes either host, 

And all at once the combatants are lost : i860 

Darkling they join adverse, and shock unseen, 

Coursers with coursers justling, men with men: 

As labouring in eclipse, a while they stay, 

Till the next blast of wind restores the day. 

They look anew ; the beauteous form of fight 1865 

Is changed, and war appears a grisly sight. 

Two troops in fair array one moment showed. 

The next, a field wdth fallen bodies strowed : 

Not half the number in thek seats are found; 

But men and steeds lie grovelling on the ground. i870 

The points of spears are stuck within the shield, 

The steeds without their riders scour the field. 

The knights unhorsed, on foot renew the fight ; 

The glittering f auchions cast a gleaming light : 

Hauberks and helms are hewed with many a i875 

wound, 
Out spins the streaming blood, and dyes the ground. 
The mighty maces with such haste descend, 

1871 (1748).— 

He feleth thurgh the herte-spoon^ the prikke. 
Up springen spares twenty foot on higlite ; 
Out goth the swerdes as the silver brighte. 
The helmes they to-hewen^ and to-shrede f 
Out brest the blood, with sterne stremes rede. 
With mighty maces the bones they to-breste.'* 
He thurgh "^ the thikkeste of the throng gan 

threste. 
Ther stomblen steedes stronge, and doun goth 

alle. 
He rolleth under foot as doth a balle. 



^Lower part of breast. ^^ewed. ^^ut jn giireds. ■♦Break. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 123. 

They break the bones, and make the solid armour 

bend. 
This thrusts amid the throng with furious force ; 

1880 Down goes, at once, the horseman and the horse: 
That courser stumbles on the fallen steed. 
And, floundering, throws the rider o'er his head. 
One rolls along, a football to his foes ; 
One with a broken truncheon deals his blows. . 

1885 This halting, this disabled with his wound, 
In triumph led, is to the pillar bound. 
Where by the kings award he must abide: 
There goes a captive led on t'other side. 
By fits they cease, and leaning on the lance, 

1890 Take breath awhile, and to new fight advance. 
Full oft the rivals met, and neither spared 
His utmost force, and each forgot to ward: 
The head of this was to the saddle bent. 
The other backward to the crupper sent : 

1895 Both were by turns unhorsed; the jealous blows 
Fall thick and heavy, when on foot they close. 
So deep their fauchions bite, that every stroke 
Pierced to the quick ; and equal wounds they gave 

and took. 
Borne far asunder by the tides of men, 

1900 Like adamant and steel they met agen. 

So when a tiger sucks the bullock's blood, 
A famished lion issuing from the wood 
Eoars lordly fierce, and challenges the food. 
Each claims possession, neither will obey, 

1905 But both their paws are fastened on the prey ; 



12^ PALAMON AND ARCITE 

They bite, they tear ; and while in vain they strive, 
The swains come armed between, and both to 

distance drive. 
At length, as Fate foredoomed, and all things 

tend 
By course of time to their appointed end ; 
So when the sun to west was far declined, i9io 

And both afresh in mortal battle joined. 
The strong Emetrius came in Arcite's aid. 
And Palamon with odds was overlaid : 
For, turning short, he struck with all his might 
Full on the helmet of the unwary knight. i9i5 

Deep was the wound ; he staggered with the blow. 
And turned him to his unexpected foe ; 
Whom with such force he struck, he felled him 

down, 
And cleft the cii'cle of his golden crown. 
But Arcite's men, who now prevailed in fight, 19-20 

Twice ten at once surround the single knight : 
O'erpowered at length, they force him to the 

ground, 
Unyielded as he was, and to the pillar bound; 
And king Lycurgus, while he fought in vain 
His friend to free, was tumbled on the plain. 1925 

Who now laments but Palamon, compelled 
No more to try the fortune of the field. 
And, worse than death, to view with hateful eyes 
His rival's conquest, and renounce the prize! 

The royal judge on his tribunal placed, i930 

Who had beheld the fight from first to last, 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 125 

Bad cease the war ; pronouncing from on high, 
Arcite of Thebes had won the beauteous Emily. 
The sound of trumpets to the voice replied, 

1935 And round the royal lists the heralds cried, 

"Arcite of Thebes has won the beauteous bride!" 

The people rend the skies with vast applause ; 
All own the chief, when Fortune owns the cause. 
Arcite is owned even by the gods above, 

1940 And conquering ilars insults the Queen of Love. 
So laughed he when the rightful Titan failed. 
And Jove's usurping arms in heaven prevailed. 
Laughed all the powers who favour tyranny. 
And all the standing army of the sky. 

1945 But Venus with dejected eyes appears, 

And weeping on the lists distilled her tears ; 
Her will refused, which grieves a woman most, 
And, in her champion foiled, the cause of Love is 

lost. 
Till Saturn said: — ''Fair daughter, now be still, 

1950 The blustering fool has satisfied his will ; 

His boon is given; his knight has gained the day. 
But lost the prize; the arrears are yet to pay. 
Thy hour is come, and mine the care shall be 
To please thy knight, and set thy promise free." 

1936 (1800).— 

'Arcite of Thebes shal have Emelye, 

That by his fortune hath hir faire y-wonne.' 

Anon ther is a noyse of peple bygonne^ 

For loye of this, so lowde and heigh with-alle, 

It semed that the listes sholde falle. 



Begun. 



126 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Now while the heralds run the lists around, 1955 

AndArcite! Arcite! heaven and earth resound, 
A miracle (nor less it could be called) 
Their joy with unexpected sorrow palled. 
The victor knight had laid his helm aside, 
Part for his ease, the gi^eater part for pride: i960 

Bareheaded, popularly low he bowed, 
And paid the salutations of the crowd ; 
Then spurring, at full speed, ran endlong on 
Where Theseus sat on his imperial throne ; 
Furious he drove, and upward cast his eye, • i965 

Where, next the Queen, was placed his Emily; 
Then pausing, to the saddle-bow he bent ; • 
A sweet regard the gracious virgin lent ; 
(For women, to the brave an easy prey. 
Still follow Fortune, where she leads the way;) 1970 
Just then from earth sprung out a flashing fire, 
By Pluto sent, at Saturn's bad desire: 
The startling steed was seized with sudden fright, 
And, bounding, o'er the pummel cast the knight; 
Forward he flew, and pitching on his head, 1975 

He quivered with his feet, and lay for dead. 
Black was his countenance in a little space, 
For al] the blood was gathered in his face. 
Help was at hand: they reared him from the 

ground, 
And from his cumbrous arms his limbs unbound ; i98o 
Then lanced a vein, and watched returning breath; 
It came, but clogged with symptoms of his death. 
The saddle-bow the noble parts had prest. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 127 

All bruised and mortified his manly breast. 

1985 Him still entranced, and in a litter laid, 

They bore from field, and to his bed conveyed. 
At length he waked ; and, with a feeble cry, 
The word he first pronounced, was Emily. 

Mean time the King, though inwardly he 
mourned, 

1990 In pomp triumphant to the town returned, 
Attended by the chiefs who fought the field, 
(Now friendly mixed, and in one troop compelled,) 
Composed his looks to counterfeited cheer, 
And bade them not for Arcite's life to fear. 

1995 But that which gladded all the warrior train, 

Though most were sorely wounded, none were slain. 
The surgeons soon despoiled them of their arms. 
And some with salves they cure, and some with 

charms ; 
Foment the bruises, and the pains assuage, 

2000 And heal their inward hurts with sovereign 
draughts of sage. 
The King in person visits all around. 
Comforts the sick, congratulates the sound; 
Honours the princely chiefs, rewards the rest, 
And holds for thrice three days a roj'al feast. 

2005 None was disgraced ; for falling is no shame, 
And cowardice alone is loss of fame. 

1986 (1836). — Anon he was y-born out of the place 
With herte soor, to Theseus paleys.^ 

2003 (1877).— And yaf hem yiftes after hir degree, 
And fully heeld a feste dayes three. 



^Palace. 



128 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The venturous knight is from the saddle thrown, 

But 'tis the fault of fortune, not his own ; 

If crowds and palms the conquering side adorn, 

The victor under better stars was born : 2010 

The brave man seeks not popular applause, 

Nor, overpowered with arms, deserts his cause; 

Unshamed, though foiled, he does the best he can: 

Force is of brutes, but honour is of man. 

Thus Theseus smiled on all with equal grace, 2015 
And each was set according to his place; 
With ease were reconciled the differing parts. 
For envy never dwells in noble hearts. 
At length they took their leave, the time expired; 
Well pleased, and to their several homes retired. 2020 

Meanwhile, the health of Arcite still impairs ; 
From bad proceeds to worse, and mocks the 

leech 's cares ; 
Swoln is his breast; his inward pains increase; 
All means are used, and all without success. 
The clottered blood lies heavy on his heart, 2025 

Corrupts, and there remains in spite of art; 
Nor breathing veins nor cupping will prevail ; 
All outward remedies and inward fail. 
The mould of nature's fabric is destroyed. 
Her vessels discomposed, her virtue void : 2030 

The bellows of his lungs begins to swell ; 
All out of frame is every secret cell, 
Nor can the good receive, nor bad expel. 
Those breathing organs, thus within opprest. 
With venom soon distend the sinews of his breast. 2035 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 129 

Nought profits him to save abandoned life, 
Nor vomit's upward aid, nor downward laxative. 
The midmost region battered and destroyed, 
When nature cannot work, the effect of art is void: 

2040 For physic can but mend our crazy state. 
Patch an old building, not a new create. 
Arcite is doomed to die in all his pride. 
Must leave his youth and yield his beauteous bride, 
Gained hardly against right, and unenjoyed. 

2045 When 'twas declared all hope of life was past, 
Conscience, that of all physic works the last. 
Caused him to send for Emily in haste. 
With her, at his desire, came Palamon; 
Then, on his pillow raised, he thus begun : 

2050 '*No language can express the smallest part 
Of what I feel, and suffer in my heart, 
For you, whom best I love and value most ; 
But to your service I bequeath my ghost ; 
Which, from this mortal body when untied, 

2050 (1907).— 

'Naught may the woful spirit in myn herte 

Declare o^ poynt of alle my sorwes smerte 

To yow, my lady, that I love most ; 

But I byquethe the service of my gost^ 

To yow aboven every creature, 

Sin that my ly f ne may no lenger dure. ^ 

Alias, the wo ! alias, the peynes stronge, 

That I for yow have suffred, and so longe I 

Alias, the deeth ! alias, myn Emelye ! 

Alias, departing of our compaignye ! 

Alias, myn hertes queue ! alias, my wy f ! 

Myn hertes lady, endere of my lyf ! 

What is this world? what asketh men to have? 



*One. '^Ghost, spirit. ^Endure. 



130 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Unseen, unheard, shall hover at your side ; 2055 

Nor fright you waking, nor your sleep offend, 

But wait ofl&cious, and your steps attend. 

How I have loved, excuse my faltering tongue, 

My spirit's feeble, and my pains are strong: 

This I may say, I only gi'ieve to die, 2060 

Because I lose my chai^ming Emily. 

To die, when Heaven had put you in my power ! 

Fate could not choose a more malicious hour. 

What greater curse could envious Fortune give. 

Than just to die when I began to live ! 2065 

Vain men ! how vanishing a bliss we crave ; 

Now with his love, now in his colde grave, 
Allone, with-outen any compaignye. 
Fare-wel, my swete fo !^ myn Emelye ! 
And softe tak me in your armes tweye, 
For love of God, and herkneth what I seye. 

I have heer with my cosin Palamon 
Had stryf and rancour, many a day a-gon, 
For love of yow, and for my lelousye. 
And lupiter so wis my soule gye,^ 
To speken of a servant proprely, 
With alle circumstaunces trewely, 
That is to seyn,^ trout he, honour, and knighthede, 
Wisdom, humblesse, estaat,** and heigh kinrede,^ 
Fredom, and al that longeth^ to that art, 
So lupiter have of my soule part, 
As in this world right now ne knowe I non 
So worthy to be loved as Palamon, 
That serveth yow, and wol doon al his lyf. 
And if that evere ye shul been a wyf, 
Foryet nat Palamon, the gentil man.' 
And with that word his speche faille gan, 
For fro his feet up to his brest was come 
The cold of deeth, that hadde him overcome. 



^Foe. ^^jkj may Jupiter so wisely guide my soul that I may 
speak, etc. ^xhat there is to be seen. ♦Possessions. "High 
kindred, «Belongeth. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 131 

Now warm in love, now withering in the grave ! 

Never, never more to see the sun! 

Still dark, in a damp vault, and still alone! 
2070 This fate is common ; but I lose my breath 

Near bliss, and yet not blessed before my death. 

Farewell ! but take me dying in your arms ; 

'Tis all I can enjoy of all your charms : 

This hand I cannot but in death resign; 
2075 Ah, could I live ! but while I live 'tis mine. 

I feel my end approach and thus embraced 

Am pleased to die ; but hear me sjoeak my last : 

Ah, my sweet foe! for you, and you alone, 

I broke my faith with injured Palamon. 
2080 But love the sense of right and ^Tong confounds ; 

Strong love and proud ambition have no bounds. 

And much I doubt, should Heaven my life pro- 
long, 

I should return to justify my wi'ong ; 

For while my former flames remain within, 
2085 Eepentance is but want of power to sin. 

With mortal hatred I pursued his life, 

Nor he nor you were guilty of the strife ; 

Nor I, but as I loved ; yet all combined, 

Yom' beauty and my impotence of mind, 
2090 And his concurrent flame that blew my fire. 

For still om' kindi^ed souls had one desire. 

He had a moment's right in point of time; 

Had I seen first, then his had been the crime. 

Fate made it mine, and justified his right; 
2095 Nor holds this earth a more deserving knight 



132 PALAMON AXD ARCITE 

For virtue, valour, and for noble blood, 

Truth, honour, all that is comprised in good ; 

So help me Heaven, in all the world is none 

So worthy to be loved as Palamon. 

He loves vou too, with such a holv fire, aoo 

As will not, cannot, but with life expire: 

Our vowed affections both have often tried, 

Nor any love but yours could ours divide. 

Then, by my love's inviolable band, 

By my long suffering and my short command, 2106 

If e'er you plight your vows when I am gone, 

Have pity on the faithful Palamon." 

This was his last ; for Death came on amain, 
And exercised below his iron reign ; 
Then upward to the seat of life he goes ; 2110 

Sense fled before him, what he touched he froze: | 

Yet could he not his closing eyes withdraw. 
Though less and less of Emily he saw ; 
So, speechless, for a little space he lay; 
Then grasped the hand he held, and sighed his 2115 
soul away. 

But whither went his soul? let such relate 
Who search the secrets of the future state : 
Divines can say but what themselves believe ; 
Strong proofs they have, but not demonstrative; 
For, were all plain, then all sides must agree, 2120 

And faith itself be lost in certainty. 

2115 (1950).— 

His laste word was 'mercy, Emelve!' 
His spirit chaunged hous, and wente ther, 
As I cam nevere, I can nat tellen wher. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 133 

To live uprightly then is sure the best ; 

To save ourselves, and not to damn the rest. 

The soul of Arcite went where heathens go, 
2125 Who better live than we though less they know. 
In Palamon a manly grief appears ; 

Silent he wept, ashamed to show his tears. 

Emilia shrieked but once; and then, opprest 

With sorrow, sunk upon her lover's breast: 
2130 Till Theseus in his arms conveyed with care 

Far from so sad a sight the swooning fair. 

'Twere loss of time her sorrow to relate ; 

111 bears the sex a youthful lover's fate. 

When just approaching to the nuptial state : 
2135 But like a low-hung cloud, it rains so fast, 

That all at once it falls, and cannot last. 

The face of things is changed, and Athens now, 

That laughed so late, becomes the scene of woe: 

Matrons and maids, both sexes, every state, 
2140 With tears lament the knight's untimely fate. 

Not greater grief in falling Troy was seen 

For Hector's death; but Hector was not then. 

Old men with dust deformed their hoary hair ; 

The women beat their breasts, their cheeks they 
tear. 
2145 *'Why wouldst thou go," with one consent they 
cry, 

^'When thou hadst gold enough, and Emily?" 
Theseus himself, who should have cheered the 
grief 

Of others, wanted now the same relief: 



134 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Old ^geus only could revive his son, 

Who various changes of the world had known, 2150 

And strange vicissitudes of human fate. 

Still altering, never in a steady state ; 

Good after ill and after pain delight, 

Alternate, like the scenes of day and night. 

Since every man who lives is born to die, 2155 

And none can boast sincere felicity. 

With equal mind, what happens, let us bear. 

Nor joy, nor grieve too much for things beyond 

our care. 

Like pilgrims to the appointed place we tend ; 1 

The world's an inn, and death the journey's end. 2160 ' 

Even kings but play, and when their part is done, 

Some other, worse or better, mount the throne. \ 

With words like these the crowd was satisfied ; i 

And so they would have been, had Theseus died. ! 

But he, their King, was labouring in his mind 2165 | 

A fitting place for funeral pomps to find, i 

Which were in honour of the dead designed. 

And, after long debate, at last he found 

(As Love itself had marked the spot of ground,) 

That grove for ever green, that conscious laund, 2170 

Where he with Palamon fought hand to hand; 

That, where he fed his amorous desires 

With soft complaints, and felt his hottest fires, 

There other flames might waste his earthly part, 

2159 (1989).— 

This world nis but a thurghfare ful of wo, 
And we ben pilgrimes, passinge to and fro; 
Deeth is an ende of every worldly sore. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 135 

2175 And burn his limbs, where love had burned his 
heart. 
This once resolved, the peasants were enjoined 
Sere-wood, and firs, and doddered oaks to find. 
With sounding axes to the grove they go, 
Fell, split, and lay the fuel in a row ; 

2180 Vulcanian food : a bier is next prepared, 
On which the lifeless body should be reared. 
Covered with cloth of gold ; on which was laid 
The corps of Arcite, in like robes arrayed. 
White gloves were on his hands, and on his head 

2185 A wreath of laurel, mixed with mjrtle, spread. 
A sword keen-edged within his right he held. 
The warlike emblem of the conquered field : 
Bare was his manly visage on the bier ; 
Menaced his countenance, even in death severe. 

2190 Then to the palace-hall they bore the knight. 
To lie in solemn state, a public sight : 
Groans, cries, and bowlings fill the crowded place, 
And unaffected sorrow sat on every face. 
Sad Palamon above the rest appears, 

2195 In sable garments, dewed with gushing tears; 
His auburn locks on either shoulder flowed. 
Which to the funeral of his friend he vowed ; 
But Emily, as chief, was next his side, 
A virgin-widow and a mourning bride. 

2188 (2019).— 

He^ leyde him bare the visage on the here, 
Therwith he weep that pitee was to here. 



^Theseus. 



136 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

And, that the princely obsequies might be 
Performed according to his high degree, 
The steed, that bore him living to the fight, 
Was trapped with polished steel, all shining 

bright, 
And covered with the atchievements of the knight. 
The riders rode abreast ; and one his shield, 2205 

His lance of cornel-wood another held ; 
The third his bow, and glorious to behold, 
The costly quiver, all of burnished gold. 
The noblest of the Grecians next appear. 
And weeping on their shoulders bore the bier ; 2210 

With sober pace they marched, and often stayed. 
And through the master -street the corps conveyed. 
The houses to their tops with black were spread. 
And even the pavements were with mourning hid. 
The right side of the pall old ^geus kept, 2215 

And on the left the royal Theseus wept ; 
Each bore a golden bowl of work divine, 
With honey filled, and milk, and mixed with 

ruddy wine. 
Then Palamon the kinsman of the slain. 
And after him appeared the illustrious train. 2220 

To grace the pomp came Emily the bright, 
With covered fire, the funeral pile to light. 
With high devotion was the service made, 
And all the rites of pagan honour paid : 
So lofty was the pile, a Parthian bow, 2225 

With vigour drawn, must send the shaft below. 
The bottom was full twenty fathom broad, 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 137 

With crackling straw beneath in due proportion 

strowed. 
The fabric seemed a wood of rising green, 

2230 With sulphur and bitumen cast between 

To feed the flames : the trees were unctuous fir, 
And mountain-ash, the mother of the spear ; 
The mourner -yew, and builder-oak were there, 
The beech, the swimming alder, and the plane, 

2235 Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. 

And laurels, which the gods for conquering chiefs 

ordain. 
How they were ranked shall rest untold by me. 
With nameless Nymphs that lived in every tree ; 
Nor how the Dryads and the woodland train, 

2240 Disherited, ran howling o'er the plain: 
Nor how the birds to foreign seats repaired. 
Or beasts that bolted out and saw the forest bared : 
Nor how the ground now cleared with ghastly 

fright 
Beheld the sudden sun, a stranger to the light. 

2245 The straw, as first I said, was laid below : 
Of chips and sere-wood was the second row ; 
The third of greens, and timber newly felled; 
The fourth high stage the fragrant odours held. 
And pearls, and precious stones, and rich array, 

2250 In midst of which, embalmed, the body lay. 

2241 (2071).— 

Ne how the bestes and the briddes^ alle 
Fledden for fere, whan the wode was falle. 



Birds. 



138 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

The service sung, the maid with mourning eyes 

The stubble fired ; the smouldering flames arise : 

This office done, she sunk upon the ground ; 

But what she spoke, recovered from her swound, 

I want the wit in moving words to dress ; 2255 

But by themselves the tender sex may guess. 

While the devouring fire was burning fast, 

Kich jewels in the flame the wealthy cast ; 

And some their shields, and some their lances 

threw. 
And gave the warrior's ghost a warrior's due. 2260 

Full bowls of wine, of honey, milk and blood 
Were poured upon the pile of burning wood, 
And hissing flames receive, and hungry lick the 

food. 
Then thrice the mounted squadrons ride around 
The fire, and Arcite's name they thrice resound: 2255 
''Hail and farewell!" they shouted thrice amain. 
Thrice facing to the left, and thrice they turned 

again : 
Still, as they turned, they beat their clattering 

shields ; 
The women mix their cries ; and clamour fills the 

fields. 
The warlike wakes continued all the night, 22T0 

And funeral games were played at new returning 

light: 
Who naked wrestled best, besmeared with oil, 
Or who with gauntlets gave or took the foil, 
I will not tell you, nor would you attend; 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 139 

8275 But briefly haste to my long story's end. 

I pass the rest ; the year was fully mourned, 
And Palamon long since to Thebes returned : 
When, by the Grecians' general consent. 
At Athens Theseus held his parliament ; 
2280 Among the laws that passed, it was decreed. 

That conquered Thebes from bondage should be 

freed ; 
Reserving homage to the Athenian throne, 
To which the sovereign summoned Palamon. 
Unknowing of the cause, he took his way, 
2285 Mournful in mind, and still in black array. 

The monarch mounts the throne, and, placed on 
high. 
Commands into the court the beauteous Emily. 
So called, she came ; the senate rose^ and paid 
Becoming reverence to the royal maid. 
2290 And first, soft whispers through the assembly 
went; 
With silent wonder then they watched the event ; 
All hushed, the King arose with awful grace ; 
Deep thought was in his breast, and counsel in his 

face : 
At length he sighed, and having first prepared 
2295 The attentive audience, thus his will declared: 

''The Cause and Spring of motion from above 
Hung down on earth the golden chain of Love ; 
Great was the effect, and high was his intent, 
When peace among the jarring seeds he sent ; 
2300 Fire, flood, and earth and air by this were bound, 



140 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

And Love, the common link, the new creation 

crowned. 
The chain still holds ; for though the forms decay, 
Eternal matter never wears away : 
The same first mover certain bounds has placed. 
How long those perishable forms shall last ; 2305 

Nor can they last beyond the time assigned 
By that all-seeing and all-making Mind : 
Shorten their hours they may, for will is free, 
But never pass the appointed destiny. 
To men oppressed, when weary of their breath, 2310 
Throw off the burden, and suborn their death. 
Then, since those forms begin, and have their end. 
On some unaltered cause they sure depend : 
Parts of the whole are we, but God the w^hole. 
Who gives us life, and animating soul. 2315 

For Nature cannot from a part derive 
That being which the whole can only give : 
He perfect, stable ; but imperfect we, 
Subject to change, and different in degree; 
Plants, beasts, and man; and, as our organs are, 2320 
We more or less of his perfection share. 
But, by a long descent the ethereal fire 
Corrupts; and forms, the mortal pai't, expire. 
As he withdraws his virtue, so they pass 
And the same matter makes another mass : 2325 



2300 (2133).— 

For with that faire cheyne of love he bond 
The fyr, the eyr, the water, and the lond 
In certeyn boundes, that they may nat flee. 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 141 

This law the omniscient Power was pleased to 
give, 

That every kind should by succession live ; 

That individuals die, his will ordains ; 

The propagated species still remains. 
2330 The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees, 

Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees ; 

Three centm^ies he grows, and three he stays, 

Supreme in state, and in three more decays : 

So wears the paving pebble in the street, 
2335 And towns and towers their fatal periods meet : 

So rivers, rapid once, now naked lie. 

Forsaken of their springs, and leave their 
channels dry. 

Man struggles into breath, and cries for aid; 

Then helpless in his mother's lap is laid. 

He creeps, he walks, and issuing into man, 
2345 Grudges their life from whence his own began ; 

Eeckless of laws, affects to rule alone. 

Anxious to reign, and restless on the throne : 

First vegetive, then feels, and reasons last; 

Kich of three souls, and lives all three to waste. 
2350 Some thus ; but thousands more in flower of age, 

For few arrive to run the latter stage. 

Sunk in the first, in battle some are slain. 

And others whelmed beneath the stormy main. 

What makes all this, but Jupiter the king, 
2355 At whose command we perish, and we spring? 

Then 'tis our best, since thus ordained to die, 



142 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

To make a yirtue of necessity ; 

Take what he gives, since to rebel is vain; 

The bad grows better, which we well sustain; 

And could we choose the time, and choose aright, 2360 

'Tis best to die, our honour at the height. 

When we have done our ancestors no shame, 

But served our friends, and well secured our fame; 

Then should we wish our happy life to close, 

And leave no more for fortune to dispose ; 2365 

So should we make our death a glad relief 

From future shame, from sickness, and from grief; 

Enjoying while we live the present hour, 

And d)dng in our excellence and flower. 

Then round our death -bed every friend should run, 2370 

And joy us of our conquest early won ; 

While the malicious world, with envious tears. 

Should grudge our happy end, and wish it theirs. 

Since then our Arcite is with honour dead. 

Why should we mourn, that he so soon is freed, 2375 

Or call untimely what the gods decreed? 

With grief as just a friend may be deplored, 

From a foul prison to free air restored. 

Ought he to thank his kinsman or his wife. 

Could tears recall him into wretched life? 2380 

Their sorrow hurts themselves ; on him is lost, 

And worse than both, offends his happy ghost. 

What then remains, but after past annoy 

To take the good vicissitude of joy; 

To thank the gracious gods for what they give, 2385 

Possess our souls, and, while we live, to live? 



PALAMON AND ARCITE 143 

Ordain we then two sorrows to combine, 

And in one point the extremes of grief to join ; 

That thence resulting joy may be renewed, 

2390 As jarring notes in harmony conclude. 
Then I propose that Palamon shall be 
In marriage joined with beauteous Emily; 
For which already I have gained the assent 
Of my free people in full parliament. 

2395 Long love to her has borne the faithful knight, 
And well deserved, had Fortune done him right : 
'Tis time to mend her fault, since Emily 
By Arcite's death from former vows is free; 
If you, fair sister, ratify the accord, 

2400 And take him for your husband and your lord, 
'Tis no dishonour to confer your grace 
On one descended from a royal race ; 
And were he less, yet years of service past 
From grateful souls exact reward at last. 

2405 Pity is Heaven's and yours; nor can she find 
A throne so soft as in a woman's mind." 
He said; she blushed; and as o'erawed by might, 
Seemed to give Theseus what she gave the 

knight. 
Then, turning to the Theban, thus he said : 

2410 "Small arguments are needful to persuade 
Your temper to comply with my command:" 
And speaking thus, he gave Emilia's hand. 

2387 (2213). — I rede that we make, of sorwes two, 
O parfyt loye, lasting evere-mo.^ 



^More. 



144 PALAMON AND ARCITE 

Smiled Venus, to behold her own true knight 
Obtain the conquest, though he lost the fight. 

All of a tenor was their after-life, 2420 

No day discoloured with domestic strife ; 

No jealousy, but mutual truth believed, 

Secure repose, and kindness undeceived. 

Thus Heaven, beyond the compass of his thought, 

Sent him the blessing he so dearly bought. 2425 

So may the Queen of Love long duty bless, 
And all true lovers find the same success. 

2413(2239).— 

And thus with alle blisse and melodye j 

Hath Palamon y-wedded Emelye. I 

And God, that al this wyde world hath wroght, { 

Sende him his love, that hath it dere a-boght. . j 
For now is Palamon in alle wele, 

Living in blisse, in richesse, and in hele;^ I 

And Emelye him loveth so tendrely, | 

And he hir serveth al-so gentilly, j 

That nevere was ther no word hem bitwene | 

Of lelousye, or any other tene. ^ 1 
Thus endeth Palamon and Emelye , 
And God save al this f aire compaignye I 



^Health, ^AimoysiiiQQ, 



NOTES ON DEYDEN'S DEDICATION TO 
THE DUCHESS OF OEMOND 

It was the fashion in Dryden's time, as it had been the 
fashion for years before and continued to be for years after- 
ward, for poets to dedicate their writings to the sovereign 
or to some great noble. Men who wrote were not as well 
paid and therefore not as independent in the old times as 
now. They were brought into notice by the praise of 
some great man to whom they had dedicated a book or 
essay or poem, and they were often supported by the 
money which great men paid for these dedications. 
Therefore authors were tempted to be fulsome in their 
praise of their patrons, whose vanity was often touched by 
what seems to us now the most inexcusable flattery. Dry- 
den was no exception to his class, as the dedication of this 
poem shows. 

The Duchess of Ormond was the daughter of Henry 
Beaufort, who was descended from John of Gaunt. She 
therefore had Plantagenet blood in her veins. Dryden dedi- 
cated his Book of Fables to the Duke of Ormond, and then 
added the special dedication of this poem to the Duchess. 

Liine 4. Chaucer's poem was so good as to make it 
doubtful whether he or Vergil deserved the palm, 

7. Ormond. It is usual to speak of a nobleman in this 
way without prefixing his title of rank, but unusual to 
speak so of a peeress. 

11. Idea. Ideal, i. 6., of womanhood. 

15. Princes is the object of made. 

18. Noblest order. The Order of the Garter. The story 
of the founding of that Order by Edward III. is that the 
Fair Maid of Kent, then the Countess of Salisbury, dropped 
her garter while dancing, and that the King, picking it up, 

145 



146 NOTES 

put it on his own knee, saying: Honi soit qui mal y pense. 
(Evil to him who evil thinks) . 

29. Platonic year. The year in which the stars were 
supposed to return to the places from which they originally 
started. These years were supposed to occur after a period 
of about 26,000 years. The idea is that the Duchess of 
Ormond holds the same important place in the life of Dry- 
den's time that the "fair Plantagenet" did in Chaucer's 
time. 

31. Fatal. Fated. The house of Plantagenet is destined 
to be beautiful. 

42. Grants of land in Ireland had been made to the 
Duke of Ormond. The Duke and the Duchess had accord- 
ingly gone to Ireland, the Duchess preceding her husband, 
as is indicated by line 54. 

58. Kerns. The Irish name for light-armed infantry. 
V. Macbeth, Act I., Sc. 2. 

59. Hear the reins. Imitation of Latin expression 
audire hahenas, meaning to listen to and obey authority. 

63. As the morning-star heralds the sun, so she heralded 
her husband's coming. 

64. The battles of the Revolution of 1688 were fought in 
Ireland. 

66. One triumphant day. The day of her arrival. 

70. V. Genesis viii. 

72. Relics of mankind. Noah and his family. 

81. Millenary year. The millennium. The suggestion is 
that the coming of the Duchess is comparable to the coming 
of Christ. As her first coming cured the wounds of war, 
her second coming will cause the earth to bring forth crops 
without cultivation. 

87. Some traditions have it that there never were rep- 
tiles in Ireland, others that St. Patrick destroyed them at 
an early day. 

90. This interval. The Duchess had returned to Eng- 
land for a time. 

99. The dove. The dove sent from Noah's ark. 

107-10. Make the four lines the first half of a simile 
and supply the second half b^ giving the application of the 
thought to the Duchess. 



NOTES 147 

117. Four ingredients. Earth, air, fire and water, the 
four elements of which the ancients thought the universe 
to be composed. 

128. Had she died, Dryden, out of gratitude to her, 
would have written her elegy, though he would have de- 
tested the thought of her death. 

130. The poem shows his vow to dedicate a poem to her 
as plainly as though it were a tablet on which the words of 
the vow were written. 

138. It was less: expensive for Heaven to preserve the 
Duchess than to make another woman of such exquisite parts. 

139. Middle science. Between the knowledge of the 
physician and that of Heaven. 

140. Contingent. Probable. 

143. Ormonds is the object of to hold. 

145. Is may the correct form after the past tense medi- 
tated? Kind, race family. 

148. Mr^st and last of each degree. The highest and 
the lowest person in each class of society. 

150. The Graces. The three goddesses of grace, beauty 
and joy, attend the Duchess when she is well. His power 
of song, that is, his Muse, has also come back to him. 

152. Red and white. The red rose was the symbol of 
the House of Lancaster, the white of the House of York. 
The Duchess belonged to the House of Lancaster. 

153. Who for which^ referring to cheeks. 

164. The Duchess had three daughters, but no son. 



NOTES ON THE TEXT 

Whenever the word, phrase or passage conimented on is Dryden's a 
capital D is used after it; whenever it is Chaucer's, closely translated, 
a capital C is used; when Dryden translates Chaucer's thought freely 
no letter is used. 

Comments on proper names are given in the Glossary. 

Abbreviations.— V, Tide; see or consult. Cf. confer; compare. Ded. 
Dryden's Dedication. 

1-6. Notice the greater simplicity of Chaucer's wording. 
Pick out in Dryden's lines the phrases like of mighty 
fame, which have no parallel in Chaucer's. Scan 1. 2. in 
each version for the pronunciation of Theseus. 

12. D. Is the mixture of the figurative meaning of this 
line with the literal meaning of the next line artistic? 

16-23. C. The events mentioned are the subject of the 
first book of Boccaccio's Teseide; as they are only indirectly 
related to the story of Palamon and Arcite, Chaucer shows 
his artistic sense by leaving them out. 

30-33. C. A reference to the fact that the Canterbury 
pilgrims, at the suggestion of the host of the Tabard Inn, 
who went with them and acted as their guide, had promised 
a supper at the common cost to the one of their number who 
should tell the best story. Unfortunately the Canterbury 
Tales w^ere never finished, and we consequently do not 
know which story the company liked best. 

36. D. The knight is courteous enough to hope that 
jsomc one else will tell a better story than his. 

4 1 . Quire. D. The same in derivation as our word choir ; 
a company of people, not necessarily singers, and not limited 
to any definite number. 

48. D. Is the line effective? What word spoils it? 

50. Weeds. D. Originally not restricted to mourning. 
Look up its derivation. 

148 



NOTES 149 

56. Swounded. D. Swowned, C. Old forms of swooned. 

57. Nor. Neither. 

64. D. What is the effect of the Alexandrine? 

69. Modern idiom would require " Thanks to Chance we 
were cast," etc. Cf . Chaucer's line. In both cases, what is 
the figure? Which line gives the figure more vividly? 

71. Ch aucer says definitely ' ' a f ourtenigh t. ' ' 

79. To make. Making, nave is omitted before lost; 
what then is the construction of rest, 1. 78, and lords ? 

81. D. Notice that Drj^den's phrase is more condensed 
than Chaucer's. 

94. As. As if. 

98. Crew. D. A more general and dignified word in 
Dry den's time than now. 

lOO. The knight's oath was to ''protect the distressed, 
maintain right against might, and never by word or deed to 
stain his character as a knight or a Christian." V. article 
on Knights in International Cyclopedia. 

109. Argent. D. Derivation? Notice that the word be- 
longs to the science of heraldry, which had not been fully 
developed in Chaucer's time. For perfect construction, the 
clauses which follow where should be subordinate; Where 
the God of War, Mars, was drawn . . with his . . . 
attire so aglow that the red light was reflected on the grass. 

115. Pennon. The ensign which all knights had 
a right to carry. It was often a narrow streamer, and 
was always pointed or forked at the end. The banner 
was a square ensign, borne before the king or leader in 
battle. 

117. Generous rage. D. Generous, noble; rage, enthus- 
iasm, zeal. 

123. Here, again, Chaucer cuts out a whole book of the 
Teseide. 

132. Howling. A notable instance of Dryden's occa- 
sional poor taste in the use of words ; even Chaucer's word, 
*' clamour," is not altogether pleasant. 

138. D. What word in the sentence shows that burned 
must be a verb and not a participle ? 

142. Hiey. Theseus's soldiers. 143. They. Palamon 
and Arcite. Sent should be had sent. Was it natural that 



150 NOTES 

the young knights should be lying under the bodies of those 
whom they had killed? 

141-54-. What line in the passage tells something 
which Theseus' s followers could not then have known i Does 
it weaken the description ? 

159. D. The expression is too condensed, because the 
ideas that the knights were found to belong to Creon's 
family, and that they were carefully nursed until they were 
well, are too unlike to belong iu a single phrase. Technic- 
ally^, therefore, the sentence lacks unity of thought. 

169, C. The first day of May, which Chaucer liked bet- 
ter than any other day in the j^ear. 

175. V. Midsummer NighVs Dream^ Act I, Sc. 1. 

177. The observance of May-day used to be preceded in 
England by an all-night revel, in which every one shared. 

197. Sung. In Dry den's day the form of the past tense 
in u was used where we now use the form in a. Notice the 
frequent examples in the poem. 

204. D. The palace was a whole group of buildings, buil 
about a central open space. In this open court was the 
garden. The buildings, of which the tower was one, ad- 
joined, making a continuous wall about the court. Partition 
is, therefore, used here in the sense of section. 

214. D. Literal or derived meaning of 7iate/ul? Why is 
it an anachronism to speak of temples in Athens having 
spires? 

232. D. Scan the line and notice that the break in 
rhythm serves to emphasize the thought. WTiat does inev- 
itahle mean ? 

233. Love at first sight was the rule and not the excep- 
tion, in times of chivalry. The knight chose his lady for 
her beauty without waiting to learn her disposition or 
character. 

244. Both Chaucer and Dry den vacillate between the 
idea that the universe is ruled bj^ God and the idea that it is 
ruled by Fate or Destiny. Dryden makes the idea of Fate 
rather more prominent than Chaucer does, but explains in 
lines 819-823 that he considers Fate is in accord with the 
will of God. 

245. Horoscope. The diagram of the heavens at the 



NOTES 151 

time of a person's birth, from which astrologers foretold 
the events of that person's life. Y. Dictionary. 

267. Dungeon. Astrologers divided the heavens into 
twelve *' houses" by means of twelve great circles, inter- 
secting the north and south poles of the heavens. Some of 
these houses were fortunate and some unfortunate in their 
influence. Saturn, the most unlucky planet, in the " dun- 
geon of the sky," that is, the most unlucky house, would 
portend great evil. 

272. Fatal dart. D. The reference is, of course, to the 
fact that Cupid, the god of love, wounds his victims with 
arrows sent from his golden bow. 

282-3 lO. What two points does Palamon make in 
arguing his own better right to Emily ? 

292. D. That one should i»6, etc. That each should share 
his good fortune with the other. 

299. On the plain. D. In open fight. 

300. Appeach. T>. Impeach. 

311-51. With what three points does Arcite reply to 
Palamon' s two? Does he succeed in making the worse ap- 
pear the better reason? 

330. D. Love's power, which nature gives, is the sanc- 
tion for any unfairness committed in the cause of love. 

342-45. C. Is the simile an appropriate illustration? 
The full form would be, We plead our right as ^sop's 
hounds did when they contended. . . . but fruitlessly, 
for a cur, . . . Notice that 1. 344-345 should be subordinate 
clauses. 

382, D. Finds his purchase dear. Why? 

383. In prison pent. D. Either, J who was in prison 
pent^ or, I who am still in prison pent. 

387. D. The condition of which 1. 388 is the conclusion. 
What is the construction of forced ? 

390. D. An example of the sacrifice of sense to rhyme. 
Besides is not merely unnecessary ; it contradicts the idea 
already expressed. 

399. Adventure. D. Chance for adventure or knightly 
deed. 

400. D. Expand tbe metaphor into a simile. 

404. D. What do poets mean by the not uncommon 



153 NOTES 

phrase " Love's extremity" 1 Dry den's thought would have 
been well expressed by that phrase. 

414. And for nor\ 

420-41. C. Arcite is enough of a philosopher to enjoy 
making a generalization from his own case. 

427. Guilty of their vows. D. The Latin causal geni- 
tive. Guilty because they have broken their vows. 

444-45. The false sequence of tense is Dryden's. 

456. Assemble ours. D. Our forces. A Latinism. 

457. Why would avenge be better than vindicate? 
459. D. How would Emily be the pledge of laiting peace f 
463. D. Effect of the Alexandrine? 

474. What. In what. 

483. D. Why is fortune called giddy ? 

484. D. Our estate (state) is worse than that of beasts. 
485-96. A somewhat unfair argument, since the fact 

that man is capable of higher forms of pleasure than the 
beast is left out of the account. 

493. Forelays. D. Waylays. 

495. Thrids. D. Threads. 

500. A quartil. D. An angle of 90 degrees. Planets at 
this angle were supposed to be at cross purposes, and, there- 
fore, to cause trouble. Notice that Mars represents jeal- 
ousy and Venus love. 

504. By this. D. By this time. 

515. D. This playing upon words was thought in Dry- 
den's time to add to the beauty of poetry. Pope, who fol- 
lowed Dryden both in time and method, carried the fashion 
to great extremes. 

534-25. Dryden probably stated this idea in all serious- 
ness as a physiological truth. 

531. Boxen. D. An old adjective form. Of the box-tree. 

537. Swound. Swoon. 

538. Deaf murmurs. D. The thought is not very clear 
because two distinct, though similar, ideas are combined, 
namely that he hears sounds as though they were at a great 
distance, and that he hears sounds as mere murmurs, as a 
deaf person would. 

539-42. Cf. Rosalind's description of the appearance 
of an ardent loVer, in As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 2. 



NOTES 153 

542. Bage. D. Madness. 

550. Sleep-compelling rod. D. Notice the expressive 
phrase. V. Dictionary under caduceus. 

554. Liike the word of the gods given by oracles, the 
speech carries a hidden meaning; Arcite's death is hinted 
at. 

576. Show that conscious is a poorly chosen word. 

578. Is there any single adjective which could be sub- 
stituted for thick 1 

584. Still, Always. 

590. Phiiostratus. The literal meaning from the Greek 
would be **fond of the army." 

593-94. Blown. D. Another case where a poor word is 
chosen because of the rhyme. 

601. D. Although he was only a menial at first. 

602. D. Largely entertained. Liberally paid. 
606. Grammatical error ? 

BOOK II 

620. The Twins. D. The sign of the zodiac called the 
Twins. 

621. V. note on 1. 244. 

624. Chaucer says "thethridde (third) night." 
644. Style. D. Pen. Derivation ? 
651. Tepid. D. An unusual descriptive word. 
661. Against in the sense of toward brings to mind 
Chaucer's lines about the daisy in the Legends of Good 

Women. 

— ther daweth^ me no day 
That I nam2 up, and walking in the made 
To seen this flour agein^ the sonne sprede. 

668. The sultry tropic. D. The Tropic of Cancer, the 
northern limit of the sun's course. When the sun reaches 
that point the days are longest. 

680. But for tho,n. 

692. C. Is the simile a happy one ? 

694. Friday is named for Freya, the goddess of Northern 
mythology who corresponds to Venus. 

^Dawneth. ^Axu not. ^Against. 



154 NOTES 

703. D. Cf. ^neid II, 325, Fuit Ilium. 

713. That side of heaven. D. Jupiter and Juno did not 
always agree, and were leaders of two factions in the family 
of the gods. Mars and Vulcan sided with Juno, and Venus 
with Jupiter. Notice, as the story advances, how one 
side of heaven is interested for Palamon and the other for 
Arcite. 

718. Was Palamon imprisoned because he was kin to 
Arcite 'i 

722. D. "To fry" and "to hiss" are verbs of ten used 
by the poets of the seventeenth century to describe a lover's 
emotions. 

723. D. Love is destroying him now, as Juno's hatred 
has before. 

726. D. No goddess ever burned her temple, yet Emily 
burns his heart. 

730. His ears ring inward. D. There is a ringing in his 
ears. 

736. D. Discovered is used in its literal sense. 

742. D. Cf. the meaning of bec/uiZe here with the mean- 
ing in 1. 643. 

757. C. Arcite renounces all his early pledges of friend- 
ship. 

760. Notice the substantive use of the adjective. 

763. D. Expand the metaphor in titles to a simile. 

771. D. Does the line add to the effect of the passage, 
or detract from it ? 

775. Each had left his promise to be redeemed. 

791. C. State the full simile. 

792. D. Hopes. Hopes for, awaits. 

798. Generous chillness. D. Noble coolness or courage. 

806. Fain. D. Thrust. 

817. Notice the broken construction ; and mahe the forest 
ring^ etc., would have carried out the structure consist- 
ently. 

824-31. One would think that Dry den had been 
studying Calvinism had not Chaucer expressed a similar 
thought. 

838. Lively green. D. Cf. "living green," a common 
phrase in modern poetry. 



NOTES 155 

845. Laund. C. Etymologically the same as lawn, but 
meaning a glade, i. e., an open space in the wood. 

851. Looking underneath the sun. C. Perhaps means 
definitely that he looked toward the east. 

854. Fauchions. Falchions. 

869. Unasked the royal grant. D. Is the use of the 
nominative absolute to express a condition common in 
English ? 

879. Scan. 

902. D. Supply is. 

909. V. Chaucer's lines. Neither version credits Pala- 
mon with an ideal spirit, but in which is he less magnani- 
mous ? 

924. The contended maid., i. e. Emily. D. In modern 
English the passive voice of this verb is not used with a 
personal subject. 

926-33. D. Chaucer has no parallel lines. 

928. Mastership. D. Masterpiece. 

930. They, i. e., the wounds. 

937. G-race. D. Forgiveness. 

948. He . . . he. Palamon . . . Theseus. 

950. Under. D. Down. Notice that the phrase "to 
look down with the eyes" follows the Latin rather than the 
Englism idiom. 

962. D. Borrowed from the classic poets, who often 
speak of Jove's " awful nod." The implication is that Love 
is as powerful as Jove. 

971. In their own despite. T>. Why is it more logical to 
understand the phrase here as meaning to their own disad- 
vantage rather than in spite of themselves 1 

981. Ask. D. If you ask. 

991. D. Grammatical inaccuracy ? 

1008. Both. Both of you. \N\ij , hut too well 7 

1018. Every sign, i. e., of the Zodiac. D. When the sun 
has finished his yearly course. 

1023. Give him such success that he shall drive his foe 
out of the lists. 

1025. Recreant. D. Yielding or cowardly. 

1031. D. Of is the objective genitive; Theseus will be 
the patron for both knights. 



156 NOTES 

1055. Degrees. C. Steps. 

1057. The pitch was steep enough for one person to see 
over the head of the person in front of him. 

1072. Why was it appropriate that the Temple of Mars 
should be opposite that of Venus? 

1077. Notice that an oratory is primarily a place of 
prayer. 

1078. Imagery. D. The word is usually applied to the 
rhetorical figures of prose or poetry ; here it means images 
or statues. 

1080. Addressed. D. Sacred or dedicated. 

1080-1100. What, in Dry den's picture, could be 
painted and what could not ? 

1093. Sigils. D. Seals on which were stamped signs of 
the planets when in some lucky position. They were some- 
times worn as talismen. 

1097-99. Suffused. D. Probably with color. What two 
words suggest the color yellow ? Chaucer says that jealousy 
wore a garland of yellow marigolds. The cuckoo is the 
symbol of deception, perhaps because it lays its eggs in 
another bird's nest. 

1099. Either down-looked is the verb for all the nouns 
beginning with beauty and and is superfluous, or the verb 
were is to be supplied from 10S7 and down-looked means 
down-looking. 

1107. D. Chaucer is less careful to defend himself 
against the charge of anachronism in giving the examples 
which follow. 

1119-20. Supply that to make the clauses correspond 
in construction with those that precede. 

1129. Buxom. D. Flexible, pliant. 

1130. V. glossary, under Cupid. 
1146. Knares. C. Guarls. 

1 149. How far should the relative clause extend? 

1 150. D. Imperfect rhyme, and shifting of tenses. 
1154. Bent. C. Slope. 

1155-69. Among other objects represented in this 
picture on the wall of the oratory of Mars was a Temple of 
Mars. 

1159. Blind. D. Not admitting light. 



NOTES 157 

1170-1226. It is best to understand this passage as 
describing the rest of the paintings on the walls of the ora- 
tory, although both Chaucer and Dry den go on with the 
description as though they might still be speaking of the 
Temple of Mars which appears in one of the paintings. 
Notice that throughout the passage the influence of the 
planet Mars is confused with that of Mars, the god of war. 

1 1 78. D. What is the underlying thought of the line I 

1183. Lawn. D. Another subject of stood. 

1187. Clottered. D. Clotted. 

1202. Mars his nature. In Dryden's time the apos- 
trophe s was thought to be a broken down and incorrect 
form of the possessive pronoun. V. also 1. 1214. 

1210. Scarlet conquest. A figure representing Conquest 
in a scarlet robe. Is the figure of Victory usually that 
of a man or woman? 

1217. Dryden's clause, TTTio lost the world for love, is 
out of place here, since it suggests that the picture of 
Antony belongs in the Temple of Venus. 

1218. Fane. D. Derivation? 

1221. Does Mars really look redder than the other 
planets? 

1224. "To form geomantic figures, proceed thus: Take 
a pencil and hurriedly jot down on a paper a number of dots 
in a line, without counting them. Do the same three times 
more. Now count the dots, to see whether they are odd or 
even. If the dots in a line are odd, put one dot on another 
small paper, half-way across it. If they are even, put down 
two dots, one towards each side, arranging the results in four 
rows, one beneath the other." (From Mr. W. W. Skeat's 
Notes on the Canterbury Tales.) 

Mr. Skeats gives the figures Puella and Rubeus thus : 



There were sixteen of these geomantic figures, each with 
its name, its element, its planet and its sign, and the astrol- 
ogers sometimes made their divinations from these figures 
instead of taking the actual position of the stars. Geo- 



158 NOTES 

mancy was sometimes called *' divination by spotting," and 
was a sort of abbreviated astrology ; the figures were made 
at first by throwing pebbles carelessly upon the ground 
(yi)), from which the science took its name. 

1226. D. A planet is direct when it appears to move 
from west to east with the signs of the Zodiac, and retro- 
grade when It appears to move from east to west. 

1230. Shades. T>. Of trees. 

1233. Manifest of shame. D. A Latinism, meaning ttJit?i 
shame manifest. 

1235. Peculiar grace. D. Jupiter was especially merci- 
ful in placing the mother and the son near each other. 

1236. I7i the cold circle. D. The Arctic circle. 
1239. What should we say instead of unknowing of? 
1243-44. The next wall-painting showed the Greeks 

assembled in a temple, and the next showed them in pursuit 
of the boar sent by Diana to ravage Calydon. There is no 
connection between the lines, except possibly that the 
Greeks prayed to Diana before they started on the hunt; 
but that idea is scarcely logical, since it was Diana's wish 
that the boar should punish CEneus for his slight to her. 

1249. The Volscian Queen. D. Camilla, V. Glossary 
under Camilla. 

1259. Wexing. C. Waxing, growing. 

1260. Why is the moon's light called borrowed? 
1262. Alternate sway. Diana was confused by the 

Romans with Hecate, the goddess of night and the world of 
spirits, and also with Persephone, wife of Pluto. From 
1. 1489 it appears that Dryden confuses her with Persephone, 
and means that she rules in Hades part of the year. Notice 
that the planet and the goddess are confused. 

1271-72. D. Notice how the unity of the passage is 
broken by these two lines, which drop out of the particular 
past time into an indefinite present time. 



NOTES 159 



Book III 

1279. Bound the v)orld. T>. Chaucer has no parallel 
phrase. 

1290. The fair. D. The fair sex. 

1292. Not scarce. Modern use drops the not. 

1311. Jamheux. Jambeaux. From French, jambe^ the 
leg. 

1322. Unity of construction would require the phrase 
" round and long of arm," in place of the clause. 

1337. His only in the sense that they were Palamon's, 
and that after Palamon himself he led Palamon's forces. 

1365. Reclaimed. T>. Tamed, trained. 

1366. His. In reality Ar cite' s. 
1377. War. Troops. Metonymy. 

1379. Sunday. C. A startling anachronism. 

1384. By the change of what one word might the 
change in subject and in voice have been avoided? 

1389. How. To what lady. 

1392. Construction of the nouns sighs and love7 

1400. Preventing. D. Used in its literal sense ; ;>7'eren- 
ire, to go before. 

1407. Sliding. D. Probably used in allusion to the 
ancient idea that each of the heavenly bodies was set in its 
own crystalline sphere, and that all these spheres " slid'* 
around each other in the heavens, with the earth as a cen- 
ter. The Sun was in the fourth of these spheres and Venus 
in the third; therefore, Venus was nearer the earth, or 
beneath the Sun. 

1408. Become^ for consistency, should be hecomest. 
1410. Thy month. May. 

1417. Gladder. C. Thou who dost make glad. 

1418. Increase of Jove. Daughter of Jove. Companion 
of the Sun because Venus is the morning star. 

1440. Fifth. A mistake for third. 

1441 . Clue. Thread. Palamon makes no reference to the 
Fates in Chaucer's version. 

1444. Cut below your line. D. Let the Fates cut off 
the thread of my life before I am without love, for I prefer 
to live a short time with love rather than a long time with- 



160 NOTES 

out it. Express in a simile the comparison implied by the 
metaphors of this passage through line 1446. 

1457. D. Palamon took the fact that the flame was so 
slow in coming as a sign that he must wait a long time for 
the fulfillment of his prayer. 

1465. Vests. D. Vestments. 

1480. Mastless. Without acorns. 

1494. Feathered deaths. D. Feathered arrows. What 
figure? 

1501. Servant. Lover. 

1504. Diana was the goddess of the moon, of the chase, 
and, as Persephone, of Hades. V. note on 1. 1262. 

1519. D. Tell why this line is inappropriate. 

1 520-2 1 . What rhetorical fault in the lines ? 

1522. This first burning fire jneQ.ns Palamon, the victor- 
flame in 1. 1526 means Arcite. Trace the fulfillment of 
this prophecy as you read the rest of the poem. 

1528. Literal meaning of irrevocable ? 

1541. The rest. As for the rest. 

1546. D. Incoherent construction ; unwilling should 
limit gods and doomed should limit thee. 

1549. WTiich the man^ i. c, who is to win ? Thunderer, 
Jupiter. 

1556. Disclaimed. D. Deserted by Diana. Therefore 
she is no longer a sister of the wood, i. e., one of Diana's 
followers. 

1562-63. The seven planets that were supposed to con- 
trol the destiny of man were the Sun, the Moon, and Saturn, 
Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Each hour in the day 
was said to be controlled by one of these planets. V. 
Skeat's Chaucer, Vol. V., p. 86. 

1579-82. D. To what lines in the early part of the poem 
does this passage refer ? 

1585. Nor has Mars forgotten his own pain when he 
was a lover himself. 

1587. Cf. 1. 1417. 

1598. Unpractised to persuade. D. What is the modern 
idiom ? 

1601. Or. Either. 

1607. For. For the sake of . 



NOTES , 161 

1629. Close. D. Enclosed space. What is the usual 
meaning of the noun ? 

1 653. Leaden. D. In astrology, lead was the metal which 
was thought best to indicate the influence of Saturn. 

1660. A blind line, which is perhaps a mistranslation 
of Chaucer's. Age may be outrun by youth, but not sur- 
passed in good counsel. 

1661-62. D. Venus and Saturn were 120 degrees (a 
trine) apart, and Saturn obscured (i.e., gulled), Mars. 
Therefore Saturn and Venus would work together and 
overcome Mars. 

1663. In his own abode. D. In the same sign of the 
zodiac. 

1666. C. Saturn promises to answer both the prayer 
of Palamon and the prayer of Arcite. 

1673. Three signs of the zodiac were " watery," three 
" earthy," three " fiery," and three " airy." When Saturn 
is in a " watery " sign, he wrecks ships, etc. 

1680. When he speaks of the " cherles rebellynge," 
Chaucer is probably thinking of Jack Straw's rebellion. 
When Dry den speaks of churls who rebel against their 
native prince^ he may easily be thinking of the Revolution 
of 1688 which drove James II. from the throne. 

1682. Who is housing ? A misrelated participle. 

1694. Complexions. C. Temperaments. Medieval physi- 
ology taught that there were four temperaments, the 
choleric, the sanguine, the phlegmatic and the melan- 
cholic. 

1703. According to 1. 13T9 this day was Monday. 

1711-14. D. 

1747. Emetrius. 

1750. Lycurgus. 

1761. Cap-a-pe. Cap-a-pie. French for '' from head to 
foot." 

1766. Who did the signing ? Another misrelated par- 
ticiple. 

1769. Bespeaks. D. Speaks to; a poetic use only. 
What is the prose meaning ? 

1770. In his mind. D. A Latinism. 
1774. Mebate. D. Abate. 



162 NOTES 

1788. At mischief . C. At disadvantage. 

1790. Captives made. If made captives they cannot 
again enter the fight. 

1792. Chief of either side. Palamon or Arcite. 

1796. Vaulted firmament. The throne of 1. 1759 must, 
then, have been out of doors, perhaps in the court of the 
palace. 

1814. Southern gate. The other three gates were per- 
haps less accessible because of the three temples. 

1824. The guards. Ohiect of overhear. 

1831. Divides the plain. D. Takes his half of the lists. 

1837. Appropriateness of the word shares ? 

1841. Sized. Matched. 

1842. Literal meaning of nice ? 

1844. Grammatically ranged limits herald ; what should 
it limit to express the thought ? 

1855. In the rest. C. In the rest at the side of the sad- 
dle, ready for action. 

1861. Shock. D. Come together. 

1879. This. This knight. 

1901. Who was the tiger and who the lion ? V. 1. 812. 

1914. He. Emetrius struck Palamon. 

1922. Construction of overpowered ? 

1928. Hateful. Full of hate, V. 1. 214. 

1941. V. Glossary under Cronus. 

1947. Her will refused. What word must be supplied to 
make the expression correspond in form with the clause 
connected to it by and ? 

1950. The blustering fool. D. Mars. 

1 952. Scan the line, noticing the elision in th'' arrears. 
The elision is rare in Dry den, but very frequent in Chaucer. 
Indeed, Chaucer sometimes runs the two words together in 
spelling as well as in sound. V. Theffect^ footnote on 1. 
1560. 

Th£ arrears (D) means the unfulfilled promise of Venus 
to Palamon. 

1963. Eiidlong. C. Headlong. 

1969-70. Another instance of Dry den's fashion of 
breaking the unity of a passage to make a general com- 
ment. 



NOTES 163 

1976. Quivered with his feet. D. Cf. Latin ablative of 
specification. 

1992. Compelled. D. Notice the literal meaning ; com- 
pellere, to drive together. 

1993. How may it be determined from the structure 
of the sentence that composed is a verb, and not a participle ^ 

1996. Notice the omission of the principal verb. In 
prose, the full form, was the fact that 7ione were slain, would be 
necessary. 

3010. Another elliptical expression. It proves only that 
the victor, etc. 

2021. Impairs. D. Is impaired. 

2027. Breathing veins. Blood-letting. 

2031. Bellows. Is the metaphor a happy one ? Why 
not? 

2044. Agai7ist right. Is this the first time that Arcite 
acknowledges that he is in the wrong ? 

2057. Officious. The literal meaning from officiosus; ready 
to serve. What is the meaning now ? 

2058. Excuse my faltering tongue, (which cannot tell 
you) how I have loved, 

2060-65. What words would have to be differently 
placed in prose ? 

2069. Notice how entirely unspiritual Arcite's idea 
of death is. 

2078. Why does Arcite call Emily his foe ? 

2090. Derivation of concurrent ? 

2102. D. We have often proved our affection for each 
other. 

2109. Below. Upon his limbs. 

2IIO-II0 He. Death. 

2112-16. He. Arcite. 

2117. Who. What word does modern idiom require 
after such ? 

211 6-25. How much does this passage add to the story 
of Arcite ? It is freely translated from Chaucer, and 
enlarged. 

2129. Ser lover^s. Arcite's. 

2135. D. The idea is not clearly expressed. It prob- 
ably refers to sorrow, 1. 2132. 



164 ' NOTES 

2142. But Hector was not then. The time of this story is 
supposed to precede that of the Trojan war. 

2147-54. A very loosely constructed sentence, u^geus 
is the antecedent of wTio^ altering limits fate^ good and delight 
are in apposition with vicissitudes. 

2155-62. These are the ideas that ^geus expresses. 

2164. D. The line is inartistic, not only because it in- 
troduces an idea foreign to the subject, but also because it 
gives an exaggerated idea of the fickleness of mankind. 

2177. Sere-wood. Dry wood. 

Doddered. Decayed, and covered with a vine called 
dodder. 

2180. Vulcanianfood. Fuel, the food of fire, of which 
Vulcan was the god. V. Glossary. 

2197. D. The hair, which was worn in long flowing 
locks, was considered by the ancients a sacred offering. 
V. 1. 1623. 

2198. CJdef. Chief mourner. 
2204. Atchievements. Accoutrements. 

2212. The master-street. C. The principal street. Old 
cities had a chief street which was to the others what the 
spinal cord is to the nervous system of the body. 

2225. D. The pile was so high that even a bow made 
by the Parthians, the best bowmen of the time, could not 
send an arrow to the top of it. 

2232. D. Spear shafts were made of the wood of the 
ash. 

2233-34. Prove the appropriateness of the epithets. 

2237. Unity of construction would demand, and wJiat 
the nympJis were called (shall rest untold). The nymphs that 
lived in trees were called dryads. 

2239. Nor. A7id would be better, with the negative 
untold in the predicate. 

2240. Disherited. D. Disinherited. When a tree was 
destroyed the dryad who lived in it was left without a 
home. 

2244. Stranger is in apposition with ground, 

2296. Cause and SpHng of motioit,. The Creator. 

2299. D. The jarring seeds were fire, water, earth 

and air, usually called the elements, from which the 



NOTES 165 

whole universe was supposed to have sprung*. The ancients 
thought that these elements warred with each other dur- 
ing* the first period of the creation, which they called 
Chaos. 

2311. Suborn. D. Usually said of a witness who is 
hired to testify falsely in a law court. The idea is that 
they are dealing* unfairly by putting* an end to their lives 
before the appointed time has come. 

2322. The ethereal fire. D. The soul. 

2323. D. Man's mortal part decays, and is taken 
up again by the earth. It is interesting to notice that 
Dryden had this idea, which has been so greatly developed 
by modern science ; but it is doubtful whether this expres- 
sion of the thought in a speech which is supposed to give 
consolation for the death of Arcite is very artistic. 

2345. D. He grudges his parents their authority. 

2349. Rich of three souls. D. Eich in having three 
souls. The medieval conception was that a person had 
three souls, the vegetive, which controlled the unconscious 
plant-like life of the body, the sensitive, which controlled 
the conscious life of the senses, and the rational, which 
controlled the mind. These souls developed one after the 
other. 

2350. D. Some, who live long enough to develop all 
three souls, merely waste their lives ; but thousands more 
die before the " rational soul " has been developed. 

2352. First. D. First stage of life, when only the veg- 
etive soul has been developed. 
2371. Joy us of . Congratulate us upon. 
2381. D. On hi7n (their sorrow) is lost. 
2408. D. Emilj^ gives her hand to Theseus. 



GLOSSAEY 



Actaeon. 1.258. A famous hunts- 
man, who saw Artemis (Diana) 
while she was bathing, and was 
changed by her into a stag. His 
own hounds pursued and killed 
him. 

Adonis. 1. 1419. The beautiful 
youth whom Venu^ loved. While 
hunting, he was killed by a boar. 

^geus. 1. 2149. One of the early 
kings of Athens, and the father 
of Theseus. 

^sop. 1. 342. The author of a 
large number of fables which 
teach practical lessons by the con- 
versation of animals. The tradi- 
tion is, that ^sop was a slave, who 
lived in Phrygia about 600 B. C. 

Amazons. 1. 17. A mythical race 
of women-warriors, who lived 
north of the Black Sea, and who 
were the subject of many legends. 
Both Hercules and Theseus were 
said to have fought with and 
subdued them. 

Antony. 1. 1217. Mark Antony, 
with Lepidus and Octavius Caesar, 
formed the second triumvirate. 
At Actium he defeated his own 
cause by withdrawing from the 
battle to follow Cleopatra's ship. 
As a consequence, Octavius be- 
came Empeior of Home. V. An- 
tony and Cleopatra, Act III., Sc. 
10 and 11. 

Apollo. 1. 1242. Son of Zeus and 
brother of Artemis. He was the 
god of light and music. He loved 
the nymph Daphne. 



Arcite. Chaucer pronounced the 
name Ar-se'-te, Dryden, Ar'-slte 
orAr-site'. Chaucer's pronuncia- 
tion is in best accord with Greek 
pronunciation. 

Argus. 1. 552. A giant, who had 
eyes all over his head and body. 
Hermes, at Zeus' command, put 
all the ej^es to sleep by using his 
caduceus and flute, and then be- 
headed the monster. 

Ascanius. Ded 1. 162. Also called 
lulus; the son of ^neas. 

Atalanta. 1. 1246. The fleet-footed 
maiden who first touched the 
boar in the Calydonian hunt, and 
to whom Meleager accordingly 
gave the " envied prize" of the 
boar's head and skin. Meleager's 
love for her led him to kill his 
uncles; hence the " fatal power of 
Atalanta's eyes." "V. CEnides. 

Athens. 1. 5. The capital of Attica, 
and the most famous city of 
Greece. Tradition saj's that The- 
seus gave the city a constitutional 
government and laid the founda- 
tion of its greatness. 

Aurora. 1. 186. Goddess of dawn. 
She is said by the poets to ride in 
her chariot, wbich is drawn by the 
swift horses Lampus and Phaeton, 
along the stream of Ocean and up 
to Heaven, to announce to the 
gods first and then to mortals 
that the light of day is about to 
appear. 

Bacchus. 1. 1375. Called by the 
Greeks Dionysus. He was the 



166 



GLOSSARY 



167 



god of wine, song and revelry, 
and was pictured as followed by 
a train of both men and animals. 
He went even to India to intro- 
duce vine-culture. 

Cadmus. 1. 703. The legendary 
hero who built the citadel of 
Thebes. Before doing so he slew 
the dragon which Mars (Ares) had 
sent to guard the place, and thus 
incurred the hatred of Mars and 
Juno. 

Caesar. 1. 1215. Caius Julius Caesar, 
Roman consul, general and dicta- 
tor, was assassinated in the capitol 
at Rome March 1 5th ( the Ides) 44 
B.C. A soothsayer warned him 
not to go to the capitol that 
day. V. Plutarch's Lives and 
Shakspere's Julius Caesar, Act II., 
Sc. 2. 

Calisto or Callisto. 1. 1233. A 
nymph of Artemis (Diana), who 
was punished for a crime by being 
changed to a bear. She was slain 
by Artemis, and became a star in 
the constellation of the Bear. 
Her son was placed beside her in 
the constellation. 

Calydonia. 1. 1244. A city and 
region in ^tolia. Homer speaks 
of the beauty and fertility of the 
plain of " lovely" Calydon. 

Camilla. 1. 1249. Queen of the 
Volscians, and a votress of Diana, 
In iEneas's war against the Vol- 
scians one of his followers, Aruns, 
killed Camilla. Diana avenged 
Camilla's^ death by causing the 
death of Aruns. 

Capaneus. 1.76. One of the Seven 
Against Thebes. (V.Thebes.) He 
was scaling the wall, boasting that 
even a thunderbolt from Zeus 
should not keep him from enter- 
ing the city, when Zeus slew him 
with a thunderbolt. His wife's 
name was Evadue. (V. 1. 55.) 



Ceres. Ded 1. 65. The goddess of 
harvest and agriculture. 

Circe. 1. 1115. An enchantress into 
whose hands Odysseus fell on his 
way home from the Trojan war. 
In order to detain Odysseus she 
gave part of his crew drugged 
wine and turned them into beasts. 

Citheron. 1. 1108. Dryden prob- 
ably meant Cythe'ra, an island 
near Crete, from which the wor- 
ship of Aphrodite (Venus) was 
carried to Greece. Possibly the 
reference is to a range of moun- 
tains in Greece, called Cithaeron; 
but these mountains were espe- 
cially consecrated to Zeus and 
Dionysus. 

Creon. 1. 81. Called by Sophocles 
the "Tyrant of Thebes." (V. 
Thebes.) He was the uncle of 
Antigone, Polynices and Eteocles. 
His refusal to let Antigone bury 
her brother, who had fallen in the 
expedition of the Seven Against 
Thebes, is the subject of Sopho- 
cles 's Antigone. The complaint of 
the widows of the other leaders of 
that expedition, given in 1. 55-88, is 
the occasion of Theseus's march- 
ing on Thebes. Theseus conquered 
the city and put Creon to death. 

Cronus. 1.1698. Sometimes, though 
less correctly, spelled Chronus. 
The sou of Uranus (Heaven) and 
Gaea (Earth), and the father of 
Zeus. He overthrew his father, 
placed himself on the throne and 
thus established the second dy- 
nasty of the gods; but he was 
overthrown in turn by his son, 
Zeus, who established the third 
dynasty. The Romans identified 
Cronus with Saturn, whooa they 
considered the great compromiser 
among the gods. 

Cupid. 1. 1130. The son of Venus 
and the god of love. He is repre- 



1G8 



GLOSSARY 



sented aa a winged bov, carrying a 
golden bow and a golden quiver 
full of arrows. Whoever he hit 
with an arrow was overcome with 
the power of love. 

Cynthia. 1. 1231. The name given 
to Artemis from Mt. CynthTis, in 
the Island of Delos, where she 
was bom. The name was after- 
wards applied by the Romans to 
Diana, whom they identified with 
Artemis. 

Cyprus. 1. 261. The same as the 
modern Cyprus. Aphrodite (Ve- 
nus) was said to have been born 
on the island, and was therefore 
called the Cyprian Queen. 

Ellsa. Bed. 1. 162. Dido, Queen of 
Carthage. 

Daphne. 1. 1241. A nymph, daugh- 
ter of the river-god Peneus. When 
Apollo pursued her she prayed to 
Artemis to save her from his love, 
and Artemis changed her into a 
laurel tree. 

Diana. 1. 1228. The Roman god- 
dess who corresponded to the 
Greek Artemis. She was the 
deity of the moon, the chase and 
the forest. 

Etesian. Ded. 1. 46. From iro^, 
a year. Periodical winds, es- 
pecially the favorable north 
winds which blew on the ^gean 
for forty days after the rising of 
the dog-star. 

Fates. 1. 1441. (Ded. 40.) Also caUed 
Moerae or Moirae, and Parcae. 
They were sisters; Clotho spun 
the thread of life. Lachesis deter- 
mined how long it should be, and 
Atropos cut it off. They are some- 
times represented as deciding the 
fates both of gods and of men, 
sometimes as subject to the will 
of Zeus. 

Graces. Ded. 1. 150. The three 
goddesses of grace, beauty and joy. 



Hector. 1. 2142. Son of Priam, 
King of Troy. He was the leader 
of the Trojans when the Greeks 
besieged the city and his fall led to 
the victory of the Greeks. 

Hermes. I. 547. Called by the 
Romans irercury,the messenger of 
the gods, and especially of Zeus. 
He was also the god of dreams, 
and his wand, the caduceus, was 
♦' sleep-compelling." 

Hibernia. Ded 1. 53. The Latin 
name for Ireland. 

Hippolyta. 1. 7. The Queen of the 
Amazons whom Theseus married 
after conquering her followers. 

Idalia. 1. 1108. The name of a 

forest and town in Cyprus sacred 

to Aphrodite (Venus); there is no 

mention of a mountain near the 

I place. 

Jove or Jupiter. 1. 759. (Ded. 133.) 
Called by the Greeks Zeus. He was 
the king of gods and men and his 
will was supreme. He was called 
the Thunderer because, as king of 
heaven, he controlled the powers 
of the air, and hurled the thunder- 
bolts. 

Juno. 1. 260. Called by the Greeks 
Hera. She was the wife of Jupi- 
ter, and queen of the gods. 

Lycurgus. 1. 1315. There was a 
king of Thrace by this name who 
was said to have expelled Dionysus 
from his kingdom. Probably, 
however, Chaucer had no definite 
person in mind. 

3Iars. 1.500. The god of war He 
is the son of Juno and corresponds 
to the Greek god Ares. 

Macedon, The. Ded. 1. 133. Alex- 
ander the Great, King of Macedon, 
the country north of Greece. 

Medea. 1.1115. The daughter of the 
King of Colchis, and an enchant- 
ress. By her charms she helped 
Jason to get the golden fleece. 



GLOSSARY 



169 



Minotaur. 1. 116. The Bull of 
Minos, a monster with the head of 
a bull and the body of a man. He 
was hid in the labyrinth of Crete, 
and fed on youths and maidens, 
sent as tribute from Athens, until 
Theseus, with Ariadne's help, 
penetrated the labyrinth and slew 
him. 

Morley. Ded. 1. 131. Dr. Morley 
was physician to the Duchess of 
Ormond. 

Narcissus. 1. 1112. A beautiful 
youth, the son of a river god, who 
rejected the love of the nymph 
Echo. Aphrodite punished him 
by making him fall in love with 
his own face, reflected in a pool. 
He pined away and died because 
he could not withdraw his eyes 
from the reflection. 

Nereids. Ded. 1. 45. Sea-nymphs, 
daughters of the sea-god Nereus. 

Niobe. 1. 1494. Wife of Amphion, 
King of Thebes. She boasted that 
she was superior to Leto because 
she had six sons and six daugh- 
ters while Leto had only two chil- 
dren, Apollo and Artemis. As 
punishment, Leto had Apollo and 
Artemis kill all of Niobe's chil- 
dren with their arrows. 

CEnides. 1. 1245. Meleager. The 
form CEnides is a patronymic 
from CEneus. CEneus, King of 
Calydonia, offended Artemis by 
forgetting to offer sacrifice to 
her. She accordingly sent a boar 
to ravage his country. His son 
Meleager, who was a famous 
Greek hero and who had been a 
menaber of the Argonautic ex- 
pedition, called together a num- 
ber of Greek warriors to hunt 
the boar. They killed it, but 
Artemis, in revenge, stirred up 
a quarrel among them about the 
possession of the boar's skin. 



Meleager gave the prize to Ata- 
lanta, and slew his mother's 
brothers for trying to steal it from 
her. Meleager's mother had re- 
ceived a prophecy that her son 
should live as long as a brand 
which was on the hearth when he 
was born, remained unconsumed. 
Angered at the murder of her 
brothers, she threw this brand 
upon the fire, aad her son died 
when the brand was consumed. 

Ormond, Duchess of. Ded. Title. 
Daughter of Henry Beaufort, a 
descendant of John of Gaunt, the 
son of Edward Third. 

Pales. Ded. 1. 65. The deity of 
cattle and pastures. 

Parthia. 1.2225. A wild country of 
indefinite extent in western Asia, 
east of the Caspian Sea. 

Penelope. Ded. 1. 158. The wife 
of Ulysses. During Ulysses's ten 
years' absence at the Trojan war 
she put off her suitors with 
the excuse that she could not 
marry until she had finished a 
certain piece of embroidery. She 
embroidered during the day time 
and pulled out her work at night. 

Philomel. 1. 199. The daughter of 
a king of Attica, who was changed 
into a nightingale. 

Phospher. 1. 1396. The bringer of 
light. The name was given to 
Venus when she appeared as the 
morning star. 

Pirithous, or Peirithous. 1. 358. 
A prince of Thessaly. 

Plantagenet. Ded. 1.30. The line of 
kings of whom Henry Second was 
the first. They ruled in England 
from 1154-1485, and were, conse- 
quently, the ruling family in 
Chaucer's time. The " Fairest 
Plantagenet" was Joan, "The 
Fair Maid of Kent," grand- 
daughter of Edward First. She 



170 



GLOSSARY 



was married three times; her sec- 
ond husband was the Earl of 
Salisbury, and her third the Black 
Prince, son of Edward Third. 

Pluto. 1. 1972. Son of Cronus and 
brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He 
was the ruler of Hades, and was 
called Hades in Greek mythology. 

Portunus. Ded. 1. 43. The god of 
ports and harbors. 

Pruce. 1. 1307. Prussia. 

Ptolemy. Ded. 1. 134. A general 
of Alexander the Great. He after- 
wards became King of Egypt. 

Samson. 1.1113. One of the Judges 
of the Children of Israel, known 
in sacred history as the "strong- 
est man." He lost his strength 
when, at the solicitation of Deli- 
lah, he broke his vow. V. Judges 
xvi. 4-21. 

Saturn. V. Cronus. 

Scythia. 1. 7. A wild, uninhabited 
region of indefinite extent in east- 
ern Europe and western Asia. In 
later times the name was applied 
more definitely to the country 
north of the Black Sea. 

Solomon. 1. 1113. The son of David 
and King of Israel at the time 
of that nation's greatest prosper- 
ity. His heart was turned from God 
because he loved " many strange 
women." V. 1 Kings xi. 1-5. 

Statins. 1.14S4. A Latin poet who 
lived in Naples in the first cen- 
tury A.D. His chief poem was 
the Thebaidt a poem in twelve 
books, which told the stories of 
the seven heroes who besieged 
Thebes under the leadership of 
Polynices. (V. Thebes.) 

Thebes. 1. 77. The most famous 
city in Grecian mythology. When 
CEdipus fled from Thebes after 
the discovery that he had mur- 
dered his father, his sons Eteocles 
and Polynices succeeded him. 



They quarreled, and Polynices 
departed from the city to gather 
allies. Six heroes joined him, 
among them Capaneus, and the 
expedition has come to be famous, 
as the subject of Aeschylus's trag- 
edy The Seven Agairv^t Thebes. 

Theseus. 1. 2. One of the favorite 
legendary heroes of Greece. The 
stories about him tell how he 
went on the Argonautic expedi- 
tion, how he slew the Minotaur, 
conquered the Amazons, took part 
in the Calydonian hunt and estab- 
lished the government of Athens. 
But there is no historical proof 
that such a person as Theseus^'ever 
lived. It is interesting to notice 
that Shakspere represents the 
revel of Midsummer XighVs Dream 
as taking place at the nuptials of 
Theseus and Hippolyta. 

Thrace. 1. 1137. A large country 
north of Greece,of about the same 
extent as modern Turkey. It was 
a wild, mountainous region, inhab- 
ited by barbarous tribes, and 
thought by the Greeks to be for- 
biddingly cold. 

Titan. I. 1941. The oldest sou of 
Heaven and Earth, and oldest 
brother of Cronus. When he and 
his offspring, the Titans, tried to 
get the throne of Heaven from 
Cronus, Zeus overcame them and 
cast them down to Tartarus. 

Triton. Ded. 1. 44. The Tritons 
were the sons of Poseidon, the 
god of the sea. 

Troy. 1. 2141. The chief city of 
Troas, in ancient Asia Minor. 
Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy 
and younger brother of Hector, 
visited Greece and carried off 
Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King 
of Sparta. Menelaus and his 
brother, Agamemnon, led the 
Greeks against Troy, and the siege 



GLOSSARY 



171 



lasted ten years. The story of the 
war is told in Homer's Iliad. 

Venus. 1, 262, The daughter of 
Jupiter. She is the Koman deity 
corresponding to the Greek Aphro- 
dite. She was the goddess of love 
and the mother of Cupid. Her 
symbol was the dove. 

Vespasian. Ded 1. 125. Titus, the 
son of the Emperor Vespasian. His 
siege of Jerusalem was one of the 
most famous and one of the most 



horrible events in history. He 
was said to have wept when he 
saw the Temple of Jerusalem in 
flames. 
Vulcan. The sun of Jupiter and 
Juno, corresponding to the Greek 
Hephaestus. He was the husband 
of Venus. As the artificer among 
the gods he is represented at his 
anvil, where, among other things, 
he forges the thunderbolts of 
Jupiter. 



INDEX 



Pagereferencesare to the introduction; line references, to the poem. 
Notes on the passages referred to, should also be consulted. 



^neid, imitation of, 1. 703. 
Alexandrine line, defined, p. 25. 

Examples of, 1. 64, 80, 142, 144, 
150. 
Alliteration, p. 27. 

Examples of, 1. 159, 162, 167, 182. 
Anachronisms, p. 24. 

Examples of, 1. 22, 100, 214, 1379. 
Anglo-Saxon language fused with 

Norman, p. 15. 
Arcite. 

First mentioned; 1. 155. 

Sees Emily, 1. 271. 

Quarrel with Palamon, 1. 281, 

etseq. 
Released, 1. 369. 
At Thebes, 1. 518. 
Return to Athens, 1. 574, 
Single combat with Palamon, 

1. 787. 
Prayer to Mars, 1. 1568. 
Proclaimed victor, 1. 1936. 
Overthrown, 1. 1976. 
Death, 1. 2115. 
Funeral, 1. 2176, et seq. 
Astrology, references to, 1. 245, 264, 
500, 1224, 1226, 1562, 1653, 1661, 
1673. 

Balanced sentence, p. 28. 

Bible, references to, 1. 1113. Ded. 1. 

70, 99. Wyclif's Bible, p. 15. 
Boccaccio, p. 11, 20, 24. 
Burns, p. 14. 

Canterbury Tales, p. 13, 22, 30-33. 
Chaucer. 

Birth, p. 9. 

Early life, p. 10, 11. 

Manhood, p. 11, 12. 

Death, p. 12. 



Appearance and character, p. 

13, 14. 
Writings,p. 12, 13. 
Influence on English language, 

p. 15, 16. 
Style- 
Simplicity of, p. 27-29. 

Definiteness of, p. 30. 

Conciseness of, p. 31. 
Dryden's estimate of, p. 32. 
Classic age of English literature, p. 

21,22. 
Construction, faults in, p. 28. 

Examples of, 1. 109, 342, 817, 1546, 

1947, 2237. 
Cosmography, ancient, 1. 1407, 2299 

Ded. 1. 29,116. 

Dan, use of title, footnote 5, p. 76. 
Dryden. 

Birth, p. 16. 

Early life, p. 16, 17. 

Appointed poet laureate, p. 17. 

Manhood, p. 17, 18. 

Death, p. 18. 

Writings, p 18-20. 

Character, p. 20-22. 

Style- 
Lack of simplicity, p. 27-29. 
Diflfuseness of, p. 30. 
Stateliness of , p. 31, 
Use of words in literal mean- 
ings, p. 28. 
Sentence-structure, p. 28. 
Generalizations, p. 30. 

Emily, first mentioned, 1, 10. 
In the garden, 1. 168. 
Prayer to Diana, 1. 1487. 
Lights Arcite's funeral pyre, 1. 

2252. 
Betrothal to Palamon, 1. 2412. 



172 



INDEX 



173 



Geomantic figures,!. 1224. 
Grammar, errors in, p. 28. 

Examples of, 303-4, 606, 786, 991. 

Heroic couplet, p. 25. 

John of Gaunt, p. 12. 

Knighthood, references to, 1. 100, 

233, 290-310, 760-770. 
Knight's Tale, p. 23, 24. 

Langland's English, p. 15. 
Latinisms,l. 427, 456,950, 1031,1233, 

1239, 1598, 1770, 1976, 1992, 2371. 

Ded. 59. 
Literal meanings of words, p. 28. 

Examples of, 1. 214, 644, 736, 

1400, 1528, 1842, 2057, 2090. 
Lydgate's praise of Chaucer, p. 16. 

Mythology, references to, 1. 1-21. 
81, 116, 357, 713, 1262, 1444, 1585. 

Nature, Chaucer's love of, p. 14. 

Dryden's treatment of, p. 21, 29. 
Norman language, fused with 
Anglo-Saxon, p. 15. 

Oracle, imitation of, 1. 554. 
Order of Garter, Ded. 1. 18. 

Palace, how built, 1. 204. 
Palamon. 

First mentioned, 1. 156. 

Sees Emily, 1. 229. 

Quarrel with Arcite, 1. 281. 

Escape, 1. 619. 

Single combat with Arcite, 1. 
787. 

Prayer to Venus, 1. 1405. 

Betrothal to Emily, 1. 2412. 
Palamon and Arcite, history of 

story of, p. 23, 24. 
Participle, misrelated, 1. 1682, 1766, 

1844,] 922. 
Past tense, form in tt, 1. 197. 
Petrarch, p. 12. 



Physiology, ancient, 1. 1694, and 

Ded. 1. 117. 
Of Dryden's time, 1. 525,2029-35, 

2325. 
Plantagenet line referred to, Ded. 

1. 14, 30. 
Platonic year, Ded. 1. 29. 
Poet laureate, Dryden appointed, 

p. 17. 
Pope, p. 28. 
Possessive case, substitution of 

pronoun for, 1. 1202, 1214. 
Prose, Dryden's, p. 20. 

Religion, Dryden's, p. 18. 
Religious thought, 1. 244, 824, 2069, 

2349. 
Revolution of 1688 referred to, 1. 

1680, and Ded. 1. 64. 
Rhyme, p. 25. 
Rhythm, p. 24, 25. 

Scott's picture of Dryden in Hie 
Birate, p. 17. 

Sequence of tense, false, 1. 321' 
524-5, 730, 772-3, 789, 808-9. 

Seven against Thebes, iEschylus's 
tragedy. V. Glossary under 
Thebes. 

Shakspere, p. 12, 20. 

Spenser's praise of Chaucer, p. 16. 

Style. V. under Chaucer and Dry- 
den. 

Tennyson's praise of Chaucer, p. 

16. 
Teseide, p. 23, 1. 16-23 and 1. 123. 
Thebaid. V. Glossary under Statins. 

Unity of form, lack of, 1. 1322. 
Unity of thought, lack of, 1. 159, 
690-94, 1271-72, 2164. 

Versification, p. 24-26. 

Westminster Abbey, p. 12, 18. 
Westminster School, p. 17. 
Will's Coffee House, p. 17. 
Wordsworth, p. 14, 21. 
Wyclif 's English, p. 15. 



5ep so 1898 



